Unexpected Encounters
by Wannabe0screenwriter
Summary: When Emily receives a phone call from the hospital that a victim was found with no identification except for her name and number, a whole new set of problems are put on our favorite BAU team.
1. Chapter 1

The bull pen smelled like a deli, and it was all Reid's fault. He insisted on ordering and Italian sub for lunch, every day for the past week. With a small area, with little ventilation, it was as if the whole team was forced to have one. No matter how much Febreeze Emily sprayed, or threats gave him, the Doctor continued to be on this kick, which the rest of his team prayed would be over soon.

"Reid, I will pay you twenty bucks if you please order something different for lunch tomorrow," JJ tempted him.

He shook his head. "Your money can't bribe me from enjoying my italian culture."

Emily smirked, "I'm all about representing my Italian heritage, but not by corrupting the whole bull pen and torturing my coworkers...coworkers that carry guns."

Reid gulped, and looked down at his sub.

"I almost wish we had a case so that we wouldn't have to sit here anymore," Morgan grumbled, pacing the hall.

It had been an unusually quiet week for the team, full of paper work, research, and dealing with being on top of each other. Hotch had been holed up in his office for most of the week, trying to catch up with the massive amount of paper work Strauss had been on his ass to complete, so he had been in a more somber mood than usual.

It had just been one of those weeks that seemed to drag, Emily thought as she scrolled through her email, hoping something interesting would pop on the screen. Soon enough , the work day was over, much to everyone's relief.

Being that Emily's car was in the shop for a broken muffler, JJ had offered to give her ride home so she didn't have to endure riding the Metro. The autumn weather lingered in the air, and Emily smiled as she noticed the Halloween decorations throughout the neighborhood.

"I've always loved this season, it's the precursor of holiday season," JJ smiled, showing her excitement for the painted pumpkins.

Emily nodded, knowing quite well how much her co-worker and friend loved holiday season. For the past several years, Emily had endured holiday themed parties by the blonde liaison, and was forced to memorize holiday carols for holidays other than Christmas.

She was glad someone in her life appreciated the holidays, because if it was up to Emily, a holiday would just be another holiday. With her family estranged, she spent the majority of holidays with the team, or traveling.

But around the special occasions, a twinge of sadness always struck her, as she played the what-if game in her head. She knew it was a waste of time, and a mental mind fuck basically, but her mind always wandered to the spot if she had made different decisions.

"I see you're already dreaming of my pumpkin cider," JJ said, snapping Emily out of her thoughts. Emily smiled, appeasing the agent.

After thanking JJ, Emily hopped out of the car and walked up to her apartment. The freaking weekend, she muttered to herself, as she unlocked her door.

No sooner had she opened her door, her pocket began to vibrate. Looking at the unknown number, Emily hesitated, then answered the phone.

"Agent Prentiss," the deep voice asked over the phone.

"Speaking."

"My name is Doctor Lewis, from Union Memorial Hospital. I have a patient here with no identification, except your name, address and phone number," the man informed her.

Emily's stomach flipped, as her mind raced to possible people.

"Oh my God. Can you describe the person?" she asked.

"Well, if I had to say, she's in her late teens/early twenties, white, brown eyes and about 5'1. Ring any bells?' he asked.

Emily shook her head, "No not really, but I'll be right over," she said, as she hung up.

Calling JJ back to ask for her ride, Emily slipped her shoes back on and exited her apartment. For the life of her, she couldn't even begin to guess who this girl was.


	2. Chapter 2

Emily and JJ rushed into the emergency room, trying to find the doctor that called Emily. JJ snuck glances over at the older agent, who had grown paler than usual during the ride over.

Of course JJ didn't mind going with Emily to the hospital, especially in case they needed to alert the rest of the team. It could have been a past victim, or perhaps a family member in a case the worked on. But who matches the description, JJ thought as she watched Emily speak to the head nurse.

They came across a lot of people in their line of work, and she was sure that if it was someone in particular, it would of jumped out to the agents. The two agents followed the nurse down the hall way, where a dashing man, around 6'3 met them.

"Agent Prentiss," he asked, looking between the two women.

"That's me," Emily extended her hand, "this is SSA JJ Jaueru, who works with me." she said.

Dr. Lewis shook JJ's hand and then escorted both of the women to a room off to the side.

"Agent Prentiss, this is the first time I've ever seen anything so detailed," he said, causing both women to wrinkle their brows.

"How so?" Emily asked.

"Well, the girl was found in an alley way, beaten ,raped scarred. Her victim must of knew her, because he wrote the message, 'next of kin, next to die' on her back with a knife," Dr. Lewis said, wringing his hands.

Emily tried to process the information, but couldn't even begin to imagine how much pain this girl must be in. JJ was fighting off an overwhelming urge to vomit. "How is she doing," Emily asked, afraid to know.

"She's unconscious still, and she's going to need surgery for a broken leg and arm. Frankly, she's lucky to be alive," he said.

Then he reached in his pocket, and pulled out a piece of paper that was folded.

"This is what we found in her jean jacket," he handed the paper over to Emily. Unfolding, she saw her name, address and cell phone number scribbled down.

"This is my information, but for the life of me, I can't think of who this is. Can I see her, maybe then I can figure out who she is and call her family," she said.

Dr. Lewis nodded, and showed both women to the ICU room. Emily looked over to JJ, who nodded for her to go in. Entering, Emily let out a gasp after laying eyes on the victim. The girl's face was an off purple color, with nail marks around the cheek bones.

An oxgen mask was attached to her lips, while her leg was in traction, along with her left arm. The girl's jet black hair was in a lop sided ponytail, but had blood splattering in it. The girl looked so fragile, and damaged, it was hard to even look at her.

She knew this girl had a family whom she wanted by her right now, and Emily had to find them for her.

"When do you think she'll wake up," Emily whispered, still looking at the girl.

"Hard to tell, we have on a lot of drugs to keep her pain free," the doctor said. "Does she look familiar to you at all," he asked.

Emily shook her head, "I mean her face is pretty swollen, but it doesn't ring a bell. Maybe if I speak to her when she wakes up," she said.

"In the mean time, we're going to try to locate her family, any suggestions," the doctor asked her. Emily looked at JJ, "call the team." JJ nodded, and left the room.


	3. Chapter 3

Within the hour, the rest of the BAU unit crowded the hallway of the hospital, looking over the pictures of the crime scene. Each of them winced as they passed the pictures of the girl's back, trying to comprehend the amount of pain this young woman must be in.

"Well, it seems the unsub is trying to give a message," Hotch said, shaking his head.

He was used to gruesome cases, but this one was particularly graphic, and close to home. He knew that it had to relate to Prentiss some how, but he didn't know yet. And he knew that trouble loved to seek out the brunette, but this time it seemed to really be a doozie.

"He intentionally decided to keep her alive, to prove a point," Reid mused.

Morgan walked over to the group, while putting his cell phone back into his pocket.

"Garcia went through the missing persons list, and there is no report of a missing girl that resembles our Jane Doe," he grimaced.

"If I can get her finger prints, maybe we can run it in the system," Emily said, looking towards the girls room again. Even though she knew it was irrational, Emily felt that this whole situation was her fault. Somehow this girl was looking for her, either to warn her, or to help her, and got caught in the cross fire.

Rossi nodded, "that's a good idea, you never know what you can find in the system." After obtaining a finger printing kit, Emily reentered the hospital room. The lull of the machines, and the slight breathing twisted Emily's stomach as she approached the bed. From up close, the girl's wounds looked even more painful, if that was possible.

Emily reached her hand up to the girl's forehead to move away the hair in her face. What where you trying to tell me," she asked out loud. Without reply, Emily lightly lifted up the girl's hand, and placed her thumb on the ink pad, then on an index card.

Slipping the index card back into the evidence bag, Emily continued to hold the girls hand. She had read somewhere that even if a person was in a coma, they could register human touch.

"We won't let this monster get away, I promise you," she whispered to the girl. After a moment, Emily left the room, giving the prints to Rossi to run.

"JJ and Reid, go to the area where the attack happened, and ask for all surveillance footage from stores around the area. Morgan, go through the database to see if there are any unsubs on file who carve messages into their victims. Emily, stay here incase she wakes up," Hotch ordered, causing the team to scatter.

Emily looked over to Hotch, and without opening her mouth, he knew what she was thinking.

"Emily, this isn't your fault. This girl was attacked by an unsub who is clearly derranged," he said, putting his hand on the agent's shoulder. Emily looked down at her shoes.

"But why did she have my information on her? She was trying to get to me, but someone got to her first," she whispered, trying not to let her voice cracked.

"We're going to get this bastard, and return this girl home," Hotch said, lifting her chin up with his hand.

He wished that he could really make her feel better, and hold her in his arms, but he couldn't. Emily forced a weak smile, and nodded, "I believe you."

Entering the room again, Emily pulled up a chair next to the bed, and help the victim's hand, rubbing tiny circles on the top of it. Staring at the girl, Prentiss imagined the girl's family. Perhaps a mother who shared her same dark hair, who talked to her daughter on the phone, and took her out for mother-daughter manicures.

And maybe she was her father's little girl, whom she still called Daddy. Looking at her, the girl must still be a student, maybe in her senior year of high school, or first year of college.

She probably spent the weekends with friends, laughing, and would probably being doing so this Friday if she wasn't at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Each time a nurse came in, they would update Emily with the same words, "still stable". Emily would not nod, as she watched the girl lay motionless.

A few hours into sitting in the room, Emily felt a firm hand shaking her awake. Rossi was standing above her, smiling.

"I must of fallen asleep," she cleared her throat, and sat up in the chair.

"It's been a rough night," he said, setting down in the chair next to her.

"No results came back on the finger print scan," he said, causing Emily to shake her head.

"What do we do now," she said.

"We wait till she wakes up," he said looking over the victim.

Emily bit her lip, "do you know how much pain she's going to be in when she wakes up," she told him, knowing that this girl's life was changed forever.

"She's apparently a fighter," Rossi said. Hotch walked into the room.

"We have the video footage from a store outside the alley where she was attacked," he said, without leaving his gaze off the girl. It was the first time he actually saw her in person, and it caused his stomach to churn.

Staring at the girl, he couldn't get the odd sensation that she strongly resembled Prentiss. Although her face was quite swollen, the black hair, and the body type resembled a younger Emily. He wondered if Prentiss, or anyone else on the team had picked up on that as well.

Emily and Rossi nodded, and left the room. The team had taken over a conference room near by, and where Morgan, Reid and JJ were pouring over case files.

"So far, we haven't found any victims with this type of graphic carving," Morgan informed Emily, who nodded.

"This tape was given to us by the manager of the pawn store near the alley. It's a bit grainy, but you can make out what happened," JJ said, as she hit play on the video. The video showed Jane Doe walking at a fast pace, looking over her shoulder, when a man with a mask on popped out from behind the trash cans, he pulled her into the narrow alley, where the camera only catches the girl's feet, violently kicking. At one point, both are off screen, then their victim is shown crawling back into focus, but in an instant she is apparently drug back into the alley way.

Emily raised her hand over in mouth in horror. "How come no one stopped this, or heard her," Emily asked, still horrified.

"Well apparently there are a few bars on the street and music was blaring," JJ said.

"She knew someone was after her, I mean look at her peering over her shoulder before she's attacked," Reid said, rewinding the video.

"Did the bag her clothes as evidence," Hotch asked. JJ nodded, "everything is still in the hospital, waiting for us."

"Let's run her clothes for any DNA of this bastard. I'm guessing this guy isn't a first time offender." JJ nodded, and headed to track down the evidence room.

"Okay, the rest of you keep going over the cases, and get in touch with Garcia to see if she came across anything. Emily, you can go back to the hospital room," Hotch said.

Emily shook her head, "If you need more to do something I can, you know," she told him, wanting to feel like she was actually contributing.

He shook his head, "If she wakes up, you need to be there, She's going to wanting to talk to you, and I know you want to speak with her just as much," he said, staring intently in her brown eyes.

Nodding, Emily left the room and headed back to her chair in the room.


	4. Chapter 4

JJ stared at her cup off coffee, as she listened to Reid once again spew some statistics about the amount of victims each year who are attacked in crowded places.

Listening to him made her want to lock herself in her apartment and never leave the house again. The whole case was quite bizarre, especially since it hit so close to home. This attack on the Jane Doe was a clear message, and she kept getting a bugging feeling that it was meant for their fellow agent.

Since they arrived at the hospital, JJ noticed this striking similarities between Prentiss and the victim. The same body frame, the dark hair, pale skin all mimicked each other, but JJ didn't quite know how to mentioned it to an already stressed Emily.

She felt horrible watching her friend feel guilty for the girl's attack. Emily hadn't left the girl's room in hours, and wouldn't even accept the food JJ had brought to her. She wanted to suggest Emily to test her blood, to see if there was any relation, but the timing didn't feel right yet. However she did know someone who could do some snooping privately.

"Good morning chickadee," the perky voice answered on the other side of the phone.

Looking at her wrist watch, it was now 9 am Saturday morning.

"Eh, I wouldn't call it good," JJ grumbled.

"Look I need you to do some snooping, but keep it between me and you," JJ said, looking around to make sure she was alone.

"Scouts honor," Garcia said, wondering what her blonde friend was going to ask her this time.

"I need you to look up any relatives Emily might have that would range between the ranges of 16-25," she said, wondering if this was the right thing to do.

"Um does Em know you're doing this," Garcia asked.

"No, I think she may be oblivious to the fact that the victim looks strikingly like her," JJ muttered.

"Okay lady, I'll get back to you with the results," Garcia promised her, as she hung up. Running her fingers through her hair, JJ walked back to the conference room, where they're command station was set up.

Morgan was on the phone with local police, checking if any calls came in about a missing girl, while Rossi and Reid were trying to figure out what type of knife was used to carve the message into the victim's back. Settling back to her case files, JJ anxiously waited to hear back from Garcia.

Emily was going through yet another stack of case files, trying to figure out a relation between the girl lying in the hospital bed beside her, and to herself. So far she had looked at cases dated back from 2008, and nothing useful had come up.

Feeling like this was going no where, she snapped the folder shut. As she began to open another file, she heard a slight groaning sounds coming from the bed. Looking up in a panic, she noticed the girl was now slightly wiggling from side to side. The groan sounded like a painful groan, which matched the pained expression on the girls face.

Slight beads of sweat began dripped down the girls forehead, as Emily grabbed the girl's hand.

"It's alright, calm down," she assured the girl, before getting up to grab Dr. Lewis. Within moments, Dr. Lewis and a nurse entered the room, checking the girl's vitals.

"She's slowly waking up now, and she will be experiencing the pain in her body for the first time," the doctor told Emily, as he wrote down notes on his charts.

Emily nodded, knowing that she was one step closer to figuring out who the mystery girl was.

"Is there anything I can do," she asked.

"Do not bombard her with questions when she arouses, she may be disoriented and not even remember getting attacked," he warned. Nodding, Emily knew this was all true. Her heart dropped realizing she was going to have to tell the girl what exactly happened to her during the attack. Emily sat back in the chair, as the girl continued to whimper softly.

"Your safe now honey, no one is going to hurt you," she assured the girl. Emily wished that the girl had her mother there next to her, because she had a feeling that was the face the girl was wishing would greet her.

"As soon as you tell us where they are, we'll get your family here, okay," Emily told the girl who was now slightly trembling. JJ entered the room, along with Hotch, to check on the now waking victim. "How's everything going," JJ asked, offering Emily a cup of coffee. "She's in pain, and she's scared," Emily whispered, not taking her eyes off the girl.

"She's in great hands Em, and the sooner she wakes up, the sooner we find out more information," JJ put her hand on the brunette's shoulder. Hotch kept looking from the victim, to the agent, trying to make sense of it all.

"The sooner she wakes up, the sooner she's going to realize what happened," Emily sighed.

"We'll tell her that we're tracking this creep down," Hotch said, even though they were still waiting on DNA tests from the victim's clothing. Emily nodded as the three agents observed the victim, whose groans were become louder.

"No, please no" the voice cracked the silence in the room. It was coming out of the girl in the bed, stunning everyone. It was muddles through the oxgen mask, but still audible.

"It's okay, he's gone," Emily said squeezing the girl's hand. Blinking furiously, the girl tried to steady her eye sight, but everything still appeared blurry. She could make out figures standing around her, but the faces were unrecognizable.

"It's okay, everything is okay now," she heard a female voice tell her. The girl knew the voice was unfamiliar, but it gave her some sort of calmness.

"Warn," the girl tried to mutter, but it came out unrecognizable. Even trying to keep herself focused enough to steady her vision was exhausting.

"Just close your eyes if you need to rest," the same voice told her. Knowing that trying to say anything was futile, she closed her eyes and fell back into a sleep mode. The three agents looked at each other, not knowing what to really say.

"What was that last word she said," Emily asked the other two.

JJ tilted her head, "maybe one, or water."

Hotch shook his head, "it was most likely gibberish, her brain is probably all over the place."

Emily nodded, "maybe."

After a few minutes, JJ's phone began to vibrate, as she excused herself to take the call.

"Just in the knick of time Garcia, she's beginning to stir," JJ informed her informant.

"Thank goodness," Garcia said. The techie hated seeing people in pain, and she had said silent prayers and sent positive thoughts to the girl, who apparently had some special meaning to one of her best friends.

"I'm guessing you were able to find something," JJ said, walking away from the area to make sure no one else heard her conversation.

"Well I don't know if this is anyhow related, but Emily has a sister, who's three years older than her, named Lisa Prentiss, who resided in Sherman Oakes, California," Garcia explained.

JJ knew that Emily and her sister had not spoken in at least two decades, and that the sister was completely estranged from Emily's mother. Estranged as in no contact what so ever, since Lisa was 19.

"Yea, and Emily hasn't spoken to her in two decades," JJ said, trying to connect the dots.

"Well my lady, Lisa had a baby girl in December of 1989, when Lisa was 20 years old," Garcia said, causing JJ's knees to almost buckle.

"Well where is Lisa, and the girl." There was a slight pause, before Garcia continued.

"The daughter's name is Cassie, and Lisa was killed six months ago in a home invasion."

JJ's jaw dropped, "what about Lisa's husband, Cassie's father."

"No known husband, and Cassie's father in unlisted on her birth certificate. Cassie apparently dropped out of college, USC, the following month, and sold her mother's house," Garcia said sadly.

JJ couldn't process all of this. Emily's sister is dead, and now her niece was laying in a hospital room, and no one knew except her and Garcia.

"Oh Garcia how do we even know if this is really Cassie," JJ sighed, not knowing how to handle the situation. This was by far the most complex and personal twist she had ever experienced in a case.

"By the picture listed on Cassie's driver's license, and the pictures Rossi sent over of the victim, there is a very clear resemblance," Garcia said quietly.

"Alright, I'm going to, um, talk to Hotch. He'll know how to handle this, I mean it's going to be hard enough to tell Em that her sister is dead, but to tell her that her own flesh and blood was just attacked. I need to figure out how to do this without throwing everyone into insanity," JJ said.

"I know you can sweetie, and if you need me I'm only a click away," Garcia assured her, as she hung up. JJ hung her head, not wanting to do what she was about to do.

Standing in the hospital doorway, she saw Hotch standing behind Emily, with his hands on her shoulder, while her head rested on his hand. JJ knew Prentiss was going through a battle of emotions now, and winced thinking about what was to happen if the girl laying in the bed was actually Cassie Prentiss.

"Hey Hotch, can I have a word with you," JJ asked, trying to avoid eye contact with Emily. He nodded, giving one last reassuring squeeze to Prentiss.

As the blonde and the team leader stepped into the hall way, Hotch noticed JJ was distressed. "JJ you alright," he asked, knowing he was not going to like what she was about to say. JJ looked up, trying to blink away tears from her eyes.

"Hotch, this case is about to get more personal than anything we ever experienced before," she warned, as she told him the findings Garcia shared with her moments ago. Taking it all in, Hotch was shocked. He knew there was a resemblance, but he didn't know it was full of such drama and sadness.

After JJ explained everything, he finally spoke, "do not say anything to anyone yet. I need to think about this for a minute, and decide how we're going to approach this," he said.

"But don't we have to tell Emily," the blonde asked, knowing her friend needed to know.

He shook his head, "not until we are positive, now go get a cup a coffee and clear your head. I'll meet you in the conference room in a half hour."

About to protest, JJ decided it wasn't worth it, and headed to the cafeteria to sort her brain out. Hotch let himself slide to the hall way floor, as he tried to figure out the correct way to go about this. There is no correct way, he thought to himself, each outcome is wrong on more levels that he could explain.


	5. Chapter 5

"How's it going boss man," Garcia answered the phone.

"I've been better Garcia. Look, I need to run the victim's blood sample against Emily's blood sample," Hotch almost whispered into the phone.

"Did Emily give you a sample," Garcia questioned.

"No," he said after a pause, "take it from her FBI entry file, and compare the results to see if there is any relation," he said, knowing that the results were going to pinpoint the truth.

"Um okay boss man, but did you tell,"

Hotch cut her off, "No Garcia, only me, you and JJ know, and will keep it like that till you find the results."

Garcia agreed. Hotch hung up as he reentered the conference room.

"Did the girl wake up any more," Reid asked. Hotch shook his head as he took a seat at the table. "Any new leads," he asked, trying to get his mind off of the the last conversation.

Morgan nodded, "we were to figure out that the message was carved by a Swiss army knife, issued by Montel Hunting, which has locations in several states across the country."

Hotch waited to be given more information, "and?"

Morgan shrugged, "I'm looking into what stores had this specific model, and if any were purchased recently," he offered up.

"Fine," Hotch muttered, clearly annoyed they weren't farther along with information.

"How's Prentiss," Morgan asked, clearly worried.

"She's hanging in there, waiting for the girl to awake," he said, trying to keep his voice cool. His phone began to vibrate, jolting him out of his seat.

"That was fast," he told Garcia as he made his way out of the conference room.

"It wasn't that hard to test. The girl is Cassie Prentiss, and she is Emily's niece," Garcia said in a somber tone. Hotch pinched the bridge of his nose, knowing what he had to do.

"Good work Garcia," he said. Shortly after hanging up, he looked up to find JJ coming towards him with a cup of coffee.

"You look like you just saw a ghost," she asked him, examining the almost painful expression on his face.

"Not quite. The girl is Cassie Prentiss," he told her, watching the agent put her hand to her forehead.

"Shit," she said, not knowing what else to say.

"Look, I'll tell Emily, and you tell the team. So they know at the same time," Hotch said, as JJ nodded. Going in separate directions, both agents forced their hands not to shake.

Hotch entered Cassie's hospital room, and saw Prentiss holding the girl's hand, while looking over files.

"Hey," he said softly, sitting in the chair beside her.

Emily gave him a warm smile, "Hey, any news yet."

Hotch stiffly nodded.

"That's great, we can get her family in here," she said, excited to be able to give the girl some sort of solace.

"Emily, I don't know how to say this," he paused as he watched the color drain out of her face.

"What is it Aaron," she said, feeling the anxiety enter her body.

"Her name is Cassie, Cassie Prentiss. She's Lisa's daughter," he said quietly, pausing to let it sink in.

Emily stared intensely at him, taken back at hearing her sister's name said out loud for the first time in decades.

"What do you mean, Lisa" she asked, hoping she heard him incorrectly.

"Cassie is 21 years old, and was born when Lisa was 20 years of age, on November 15, 1989," he repeated.

Emily looked over to the sleeping girl and shook her head.

"No, no this can't be. Lisa, Lisa wouldn't of let this happen," she sputtered out.

Even though she hadn't spoken to her big sister since she was 16, she knew Lisa would have been an attentive mother, and would of reported her daughter missing.

Taking a breath, Hotch continued,

"Lisa was murdered in a home invasion six months ago, and she had no record of a husband, or of Cassie's father," he said quietly, waiting for Emily's reaction.

She proceeded to stare at him, as if he was transparent. Her stomach being a churn, and her head swirled around. Lisa couldn't be dead, she thought the herself, she had to be out there somehow.

"What do you mean, I would of known," she said looking down, trying not to cry.

"Apparently Cassie was the only one listed as next to kin, and she sold the house shortly after, before dropping out of college," he said, taking Emily's shaking hand.

Blinking her eyes furiously, Emily let the tears fall.

"She can't be gone, she just can't" she muttered, covering her free hand with her face.

"I'm so sorry Emily," he said, squeezing her hand.

Sitting there in silence for a few moments, Emily lifted up her head and gazed over at the girl in the bed.

"So this is my niece, my own flesh and blood," she muttered, as if she was talking to herself.

"Yes she is, and frankly her looks resemble you to a tee," he said softly.

Emily nodded, smoothing her own hair. "People used to think Lisa and I were twins growing up. And this girl looks so much like Lisa, and now that I know," Emily trailed off, letting the tears flow again.

Hotch felt his heart bleed for his friend, and the women he secretly loved from afar.

"She's definitely a Prentiss, because she's a fighter," he said out loud.

Emily cracked a smile as she grabbed Cassie's hand, "it's in our dna," she said as she held tightly to the girl's hand. The two agents sat in silence, as Emily began to grieve for her sister, and digest the news of a niece.


	6. Chapter 6

Morgan, Rossi and Reid started at JJ, who just finished telling them the whole story, about Emily, the new found Prentiss, and the deceased Prentiss.

"That's a heavy load of information to take in," Morgan said, rubbing his head.

He couldn't even begin to imagine how shaken Emily must feel right now. Having two sisters of his own, he couldn't imagine the pain of loosing one of them so violently. Even though the two sisters didn't speak, there was still a bond there, he thought to himself.

Reid had a puzzled expression on his face, trying to connect the dots.

"So the message was for Emily," he said.

JJ looked at him, forgetting for a moment about the attack and the message. The news of the girl being related to Emily had taken precedent over the attack, and now Reid had brought the focus back.

"Think about it, Lisa was murdered, and now Cassie attacked, and served as a warning. Someone is after Emily," he said.

JJ knew he was right, and was thankful for his ability to bring their attention back to the actual case.

"But how did they know she was related to Emily," Morgan asked.

"I mean, the two sisters didn't communicate, and Emily didn't even know of a niece."

"But the last name was Prentiss, and Lisa's name remained the same, even when she estranged herself from her family," Rossi mused.

"Maybe Lisa was in trouble, and someone wanted revenge," Reid wondered out loud.

Morgan shook his head, "but they got revenge, Lisa is dead, so why would he continue to act through Cassie, and threaten Emily."

"Someone has it out for a Prentiss, but the question is, which one," Rossi said, looking over at the crime scene pictures posted on the board.

JJ shook her head, "And that is the million dollar question gentlemen," she sighed.

Emily was alone in the hospital room, with Cassie staring at her, trying to sort out all of the information that she learned. Her sister, her big sister was now dead, buried, for months now without Emily even knowing.

Now her niece, who eerily resembled Lisa, was lying the hospital bed, in horrible shape. The girl must know who I am, Emily thought. Apparently Cassie was looking for me, trying to tell me something, or maybe come to me for comfort.

She must hate me, Emily thought, absentmindedly stroking the girl's hairline. I've been this out of touch aunt, but it wasn't my fault, she told herself.

She wondered how Cassie and Lisa functioned. Back when they were growing up, it was Lisa and Emily against the world, and she was sure that Lisa did everything she could to keep her child safe.

Lost in thought, Emily snapped back when she felt the girl begin to stir. Moving side to side, the girl was now moaning once again, muttering words.

"Mom, come back mom," she cried, with tears running down her face. Emily's own tears began to form, as she touched the girl's shoulder.

"Cassie, it's okay now' Emily said softly, muttering her niece's name for the first time out loud. The girl opened her eyes, and tilted her head. Emily knew the girl was drugged up, and could evidently see the haze in her eyes, as if she was in a different place.

"Mom" Cassie asked softly, with her eyes half shut.

Emily grabbed her hand and put it up to her own cheek, "Oh Cassie, it's going to be okay," said said through her own tears.

The girl wiggled some more, "it hurts so bad," she moaned.

From Cassie's point of view, she saw a blurry face, with straight black hair, and brown eyes peering back. In the back of her head, Cassie knew she buried her mother, but she thought maybe it was a bad dream, and her mother was there.

"I know honey, it will stop soon," Emily said, pressing the button to administer more morphine to the girl.

The girl slightly nodded, "I missed you so much," she sputtered out, before slowly falling back to sleep.

Emily brushed the tears away from the girl's face, and put her head on her chest.

"I missed you too," she said softly as she felt the girl's breathing steady once again. For a moment, Emily forgot she was talking to her niece, and had felt it was her sister.

"I got the results back," Rossi said, walking back into the conference room.

"The DNA from Cassie's jacket came back as a Mr. Yahn Jacobs."

JJ perked up, "what's on his rap sheet?"

"Attempted rape, 4 counts of home invasion, but he's been out of the slammer since '04," Rossi grimaced. The team passed out the mug shot of Jacobs, studying the man's green eyes, and pointy nose.

"He looks like a creep," Morgan muttered.

Reid wrinkled his brow, "any recent address?"

Rossi shook his head, "Lakeview, MD, but apparently it is his parent's house, and they died two years ago."

"Alright, Morgan and Hotch, go to all of the areas near the crime scene and show his picture, someone had to see it. Take Cassie's picture as well," Hotch said, as he handed Morgan a photo taken from Cassie's driver's license.

Morgan studied the picture of the smiling girl, and shook his head. The two agents headed out, while JJ drummed her fingers on the table.

"How is she" JJ asked Hotch, who was still standing by the white board.

"She's Emily," he said, knowing the blonde would know exactly what she meant.

"Yea, that's what I was afraid of," JJ replied, leaving the room to check on her friend.

Emily was now standing by the window, looking out onto the hospital parking lot. Was it really 4 pm already, she thought to herself, watching rain clouds gather in the sky.

"Hey there," JJ's voice broke through her thoughts.

Emily turned around and nodded, "so I'm guessing you know?'

JJ nodded, going over to the agent and embracing her. Emily let herself relax, and be pulled into the reassuring hug. After a moment, she pulled away, and walked back over to her chair next to Cassie.

"Any leads" the brunette asked. JJ filled her in on the DNA sample, and asked if the name rang any bells.

"No not at all. Honestly JJ, I wouldn't know anyone in their lives, hell this girl is my niece and I didn't even," her voice cracked.

"Em this isn't your-" JJ tried to assure her but Emily shook her head.

"I know Jae- but I can't help but feel guilt," she blurted out.

After another long paused, Emily continued, "she thought I was Lisa when she last woke up, I guess from the blurred outline," she softly said.

JJ nodded, "the medicine is probably playing with her mind, and apparently the resemblance between you two is strong."

Emily nodded, "Lisa was a mother, I can't believe it."

JJ grabbed the agents hand. "We're going to straighten this out Emily."

Emily nodded slowly, even though she knew nothing could stop the pain in her heart and the pain she knew Cassie must be feeling.

The room was dark, except for a faint light coming from the machines she was connected too. Cassie forced her eyes opened, this time a bit more relieved that her surroundings were a bit sharper.

She could make out the clock on the wall said 12 am, but she had no idea what day it was. She remembered walking down Union Turnpike, and then being grabbed. Everything after was fuzzy, except for the pain, and darkness.

Wincing as she shifted in the bed, Cassie could tell who ever got their hands on her did a good job, because every bone in her body hurt. For a moment, she had thought she was dead, because could of sworn she saw her mother, and heard her mother tell her it was going to be okay.

But looking around her, she knew that heaven was not a hospital room. At least she hoped not. Trying to move her head to the right, she winced in pain. Slowly, she saw a woman curled up on an arm chair next to her, with papers on her lap.

Once again, Cassie felt a chill thinking for a split second her mother was there in the flesh, but focusing her eyes more, she knew the reality. This woman was not her mother. Staring at the sleeping woman, Cassie began to realize that it was actually her, the woman whom she had been attempting to track down for months now. She recognized Emily from the picture Lisa had kept in her night stand, of when they were teenagers.

Granted, Emily was now much older, her face was basically the same, and it haunted Cassie how much the woman looked like her own mother. The same body type, the thick dark hair, the arched eyebrows. Cassie didn't want her first meeting of her aunt to go down like this.

After thinking about it, Cassie couldn't even make sense of how her aunt had showed up in the first place. Knowing there were huge gaps of time and space missing from her memory, Cassie eyes filled up with tears. As she was becoming more aware of how much her body hurt, the tears began to fall.

Emily stirred in her chair, causing Cassie to freeze. Watching as her aunt began to open her eyes, Cassie couldn't help but stare at the woman.

"C-Cassie" Emily muttered, trying to wake herself up. Cassie brushed the tears away from her eyes,

"Emily" she asked.

The older woman nodded her head slowly, as if she was eyeing up a bomb about to go off.

"How are you feeling," she asked. Cassie pressed her lips together,

"I've been attacked haven't I."

The older Prentiss nodded her head,

"Yes you were, and you're very lucky to be alive."

Cassie looked away to the empty wall, "am I though," she muttered.

Emily didn't know what to say or do.

"This is horrible," Emily said softly, "but we're going to catch the bastard who did this."

Cassie craned her neck towards Emily again, and blinked.

"Do you know about my mother," she asked quietly.

Emily nodded, and looked down.

"I'm sorry, God I am so sorry," Emily said.

Cassie closed her eyes, "If I had a dollar for every time someone told me they're sorry."

Emily was impressed the girl could be somewhat witty while laying in a hospital bed.

"Why we're you trying to find me," Emily asked, needing to know.

Cassie then remembered the piece of paper shoved into her jacket pocket.

"So that's how they were able to track you down," the girl mumbled.

Emily nodded, waiting for an answer.

"My mom got herself in trouble, and she said if anything ever happened to her, to go to you," she said quietly staring down at her scratched up hands.

Emily's mouth opened a bit in shock.

"Trouble?"

Cassie nodded, "and it's coming after me and you now."

Emily grabbed the girl's hand as tears rolled down her face. What the hell kind of trouble could lead to this, Emily thought, as she held her nieces hand in the silent room, and how would she find it?


	7. Chapter 7

Cassie waited silently till Dr. Lewis came in to speak with her. She had been awake for an hour, and the amount of pain she was in continued to become increasingly aware to her, as she forced herself to keep her eyes open.

Emily had gone to out in the hall way to make a a phone call, making the girl feel slightly relieved. The intensity of waking up from being attacked, to meet her aunt for the first time, and trying to figure out what the hell happened had been almost to extreme for Cassie to bare.

She didn't feel like going into the whole story of her mother yet, but she knew Emily had been sitting in the chair waiting to find out. Practically staring at her till she began to come to it.

When the doctor came into the room, Cassie forced a smile.

"I can't believe you're awake already," he said, checking the machines she was hooked up to.

"What day is it," she asked, realizing she still didn't have a sense of time.

"It's Sunday morning, around 6 am. You were brought in around 7 pm Friday night," he said, sitting in the chair that Emily had occupied. He knew that his patient was going have questions, and he was going to have to provide the hard answers, probably the hardest ones he'd ever had to deliver.

"Why I am in so much pain," she softly asked, even though in the back of her mind she knew it was something awful. You don't wake up feeling this bad if something terrible didn't happen.

Doctor Lewis looked down at his chart, and cleared his throat, "A male attacked you two nights ago, and assaulted you, bruising your face, throat, and stomach. It seems that in the midst of your struggle your left arm and right leg we're broken, due to force trauma," he paused, letting the girl take in the information.

Cassie stared at her leg, hoisted in the air, but just then at the moment became aware of the cast on her left arm. That explains why it feels so heavy, she thought to herself.

"He went on to rape you Cassie, I'm sorry," he paused, watching the girl's eyes well up.

Cassie wanted to die, then and there. Not only had this man beat the living shit out of her, but raped her. All she wanted to do was shower, and rinse everything off of her.

"And, you may be experiencing pain in your back," he said. Cassie nodded, knowing that her back hurt the worse out of any of her other injuries.

"He..he damaged your back with a knife Cassie. We can eventually do a skin graph once it's healed, but for now we have to monitor it for infections. There's extra bandages and padding on your back, laced with numbing cream to keep you comfortable," he finished, watching Cassie's face.

She looked to the ceiling, not knowing what to say. She knew she was in a pretty horrible situation, but never would be imagine this.

"Your lucky to have your aunt here," he said trying to comfort her. Cassie glared at him, "perfect time for a family reunion," she muttered, wishing he would go away.

He went on to explain that she would be kept sedated until she was strong enough to go into surgery for her broken limbs, which would then be followed by intense therapy.

Cassie, only half listening, nodded silently.

"Is there anyone you want me to call," he asked before leaving the room.

Looking at him she shook her head, "I have no one," she mumbled.

He took a deep breath, and told her that he'd back in to check on her in a few hours.

Out in the hall way, the doctor came across a frazzled Emily, who was waiting for him.

"How did she take it," she asked him.

"She's numb right now Agent Prentiss, she's in shock."

Emily nodded, "what can I do," she asked.

"Just be there for her, even if she doesn't respond, and keep searching for the monster who did this," he said, before going back to the doctor's quarters.

Emily stood there, knowing that there was so much more that needed to be found out. She knew her fellow agents were now learning more information of what happened on Friday night.

When Morgan last called her ,he said that several witnesses had seen the girl sitting in a burger joint by herself, reading a book around 6:15. According to them, she look preoccupied, but quickly left around 6:45.

Other witnesses had noted that they had seen Jacob in a local pub around the same time, talking frantically in a foreign language, while his hands pounded on a table. He was seen leaving around 6:50.

She had to be staying somewhere, Emily thought to herself as she reentered the hospital room. Cassie was lying in the bed, staring at the ceiling.

"How are you," the agent asked nervously, not knowing if the girl wanted company. Continuing to stare up at the wall, the girl didn't speak for a moment.

"I wish I would of died," she choked out. Feeling as if the words were a sharp knife ripping through her stomach, she fought to remain composed.

"I know it feels that way right now, but your alive, and you can finish what you started' she told her niece, not knowing if she was giving the best advice.

The two women sat in silence for a while.

"You probably want your own clothes, and personal things," Emily said, hoping the girl would give her some information.

Cassie knew the agent wanted to snoop among her things, and although she didn't want to give up the information, she desperately wanted something other than the hospital gown with blood stains.

"I was staying at the motel on West Moreland street," she sighed. Emily winced, knowing that area of town was full of unsavory people.

"I don't know where my key went," she continued, realizing she didn't know where any of her clothes were.

"Don't worry, I have my ways," Emily smiled, leaving the girl puzzled. She knew that Emily was some sort of agent, but had no idea what she did.

"Where are the rest of your belongings," Emily asked, knowing that there was no way Cassie traveled 3,000 miles with a lifetime's worth of memories.

"It's in a storage locker in Sherman Oakes. I moved everything there when I sold our house," Cassie said quietly, once again closing her eyes. Emily nodded, making a mental note for Garcia to get the information of the whereabouts of that locker.

The agent knew she was going to have to emerge herself in her sister and nieces life to make sense of what was happening, even if Cassie protested the entire time.

Suddenly, Cassie began going in to a coughing fit, from speaking to much. Emily grabbed a glass of water, and put the straw to the girls mouth.

"Just drink, no need for talking" the agent said softly, noticing the look of alarm in the girls eyes. Cassie sucked on the straw, enjoying the cold water going down her dry throat. Meeting Emily's eyes, she knew this woman cared for her, even though they didn't even know each other.

"Look I'm going to go to your motel, and pick up some of your things, but my co-worker and friend JJ is going to sit with you," Emily said, getting up to leave.

"I don't need a babysitter Emily," she croaked.

"I know that, it's for protective detail," Emily lied, knowing that there was no way in hell she was going to leave the damaged young woman alone with her tormented thoughts.

Cassie looked up at the ceiling once again and closed her eyes, "whatever."

Giving one more look, Emily exited the room, hoping to be on the trail of insight.


	8. Chapter 8

Reid sat in the back set, staring out the window. He knew they weren't in the greatest part of town, noticing the run down buildings, and the trash littered on the side walk. Leaning his head against the window, he realized how tired he was.

Like the rest of his team, he maybe had been able to catch a total of eight hours sleep in the span of 38 hours. They had been pounding the streets, speaking to store keepers, bar patrons, and local police, showing pictures of Jacobs and Cassie. And when they weren't on the street they were trying to up as much information possible on Jacobs. The weather was overcast, which he felt matched the teams mood appropriately.

Prentiss was in the passenger seat staring at the window, with dark circles under her eyes. It didn't take a profiler to see she was going through a serious bout of emotional turmoil. Morgan drove the car, eventually pulling in front of a run down building, with a blinking vacancy.

Reid grimaced, as he got the chills just setting eyes on the building. He couldn't be paid enough to spend a night at this motel.

They hopped out of the car, with Emily leading them into the motel room. A short, stout man, decked out in a Hawaiian shit, with a cigar handing from his mouth manned the front desk. There were various people, mostly men sitting on the worn out couch in the lobby, talking on cell phones, or speaking in various tongues.

The man looked up from his paper, and eyed Emily up.

"So what can I do for you little lady," he said.

Emily shivered, and pulled out a picture of Cassie, slamming it on the table.

"I need to know what room this woman was staying in," she said, with a firmness in her voice.

He rolled his eyes, "why should I tell you."

Before Morgan could even jump in, Emily had her gun pointed at the man, "because I said so," she growled as the various patrons scrambled.

Now trembling the man reached for the board of room keys hanging behind him, "the broad was in room 402, and she's been here since last week."

Emily snatched the key, and proceeded to the elevator.

"Never mess with a woman scorned," Morgan mused, trailing after the brunette. Stepping off the elevator, the agents walked down the hallway, listening to commentary from Reid.

"You think they would try to clean the stains from carpet," he muttered to himself, ignored by the agents. Reaching 402, Emily fumbled with the key, and swung open the room.

The smell of must hit the agents, as the slowly walked into the room. Surveying the room, Emily didn't seem anything out of the ordinary, except it was evident the occupant was living out of her suitcase. Clothes were thrown on the floor, a pair of jeans, a few tank tops, a USC sweatshirt.

Empty coffee cups, and bags of chips littered the night table, next to a few folders and a notebook.

"Looks like my old dorm room," Morgan muttered, eyeing up the mess. Emily nodded, it was clear Cassie was living day to day. Gathering up some of the clothes on the floor, Emily, began to shove them into a duffle bag. She knew that Cassie would want something comfortable on her body, something soft but familiar.

Reid rounded the end table, and picked up the red folder, simply labeled 'mom's stuff'.

"Um Emily, you may want to see this." the agent said, handing the it over. Emily dropped the bag and opened the folder.

She saw phone records dated from a year ago, with scribbles in the margins. The account was issued to Lisa Prentiss, and it showed that she had been called from the same number 95 times, in a span on one week. Emily swallowed hard, as she continued to go through the rest of the papers.

Another paper showed court records of restraining orders, and court orders of protection for Lisa, and Cassie. The name of the defendant was Richard Jaxs, who had pleaded not guilty. A photo of the man was also in the folder, which showed an older man, about 50 years old, with salt and pepper hair. Could it of become a boyfriend gone wrong, she thought to herself, wondering what kind of mess this man dragged her sister into.

"Here's another one," Morgan said, handing her a yellow folder simply labeled 'crap'.

In this folder, contained the paperwork of the sale of Lisa's house, the withdrawal papers of USC, bank account informations, and birth certificates. The last piece of paper made Emily drawl in a sharp breath, as she stared at the writing. It was the death certificate of Lisa.

Seeing this in her hands made it seemed so, concrete, she thought as she shut out the rest of the world. Traumatic Assault was the listed cause of death. Emily shoved the paper back into the folder, not wanting to deal with the fact of her sister's death at the moment.

Morgan and Reid looked around the room, while Emily went into the bathroom to gather some toiletries for Cassie. Emily smiled as she saw the retainer case laying near the sink, as she realized that this girl was not as old as Emily kept thinking she was. Cassie was a woman who was on the brink of adulthood when she was violently pushed over the edge to face a harsh cold world of adulthood, alone.

Sighing, Emily walked out to find Reid looking at a leather book.

"She has pictures," he said softly, handing the book to Emily. As soon as she realized what she was looking at, her eyes were glued to the pages. The book contained an assorted amount of picture, of what she guessed was her sister and Cassie.

One picture showed a little girl, maybe around 5, in a cowgirl outfit, with a proud mother lifting her up in the air. Another one showed a 10 year old, in a soccer uniform, smiling brightly. One picture in particular struck Emily. It was a picture of Lisa, sitting on a step, smiling wide

. Although they're were some creases near Lisa's eyes, and her hair was shorter, Emily couldn't believe her sister was still the spitting image of the teenager that had left. At the back of the album, was a picture that was recently shoved in there, not properly pasted like the others. It was of herself, and her sister, taken about 23 years ago.

Emily shook her head, looking from the children's faces in the picture. She was 15, and Lisa was 18, and it was at the elder's high school graduation. Wiping tears from her eyes, Emily shut the book. She had to keep going, because if she fell apart now, it would be failing both Lisa and Cassie.

"You okay," Morgan asked, putting his hand on her shoulder.

She nodded, "Yea, let's go," she said.

Just about to exit, Emily scanned the room one more time, this time laying eyes on a bear on the bed. Stepping towards it, she smiled, noticing its worn eyes, and missing arm. She picked up, and shoved in into the duffle bag, and hurried to catch up with the other two agents.


	9. Chapter 9

The next time Cassie woke up, she noticed that there a now a blonde occupying the chair were the brunette sat. She however, was scribbling notes on a pad of paper, and muttering to herself, unaware that Cassie was awake.

"Who are you," Cassie asked, even though she assumed it was the woman Emily told her about earlier. Startled, the blonde dropped her notepad and looked up.

"Oh Cassie your up," she said smiling. Cassie stared at her, still waiting for an answer.

"I'm JJ, Emily's co-worker and friend, it's nice to meet you," she answered.

Cassie eyed the woman up, "you really don't have to sit here, I'm sure you have better things to do than to watch me sleep and groan," Cassie said, adjusting herself in the bed.

JJ laughed, and reached for the pillow behind Cassie's back to help prop her up.

"It's part of my job."

Grateful for the assistance of sitting up, Cassie decided to take it easy on the blonde agent.

"So, what exactly do you and Emily do," she asked, wanting to know what kind of agent her aunt was.

JJ chewed her lip, unsure how to answer. Should she tell her the truth, or just the abbreviated truth, she wondered. JJ was afraid if she went into detail about the job, Cassie would feel that her aunt was only helping her because it was her actual job to do so, not because she wanted to. But if she lied, and Cassie learned the truth, the trust factor would be thrown out the window.

"We're agents of BAU, Behavior Analysis Unit, which is part of the FBI. We try to understand un- criminal's minds, and their motives of why they do the things that they do," JJ explained using the same terminology she used when explaining to any stranger what she did for a living.

Cassie was a bit taken back, since she had known about the BAU from college through her government classes.

"That's a really hard unit to get in to," she said, surprising JJ.

"Incredibly hard, how do you know that Cassie," JJ hadn't known anyone outside of law enforcement who knew what the BAU was, or how selective it was.

"My careers in government class when I was a student, I planned on going into the FBI when I was old enough," she said, cringing at the idea of her college days.

It had seemed like centuries ago since she was in school, where her biggest worry was getting her paper in on time, and meeting the girls at Starbucks on time. This was a far cry from her old life, she thought to herself.

"You still can Cassie, your only 21 and have the rest of you life ahead of you," JJ pointed out, trying to show some optimism.

If Cassie had more strength, she would of told the blonde that there wasn't anything good a head of her .

They sat in silence for a while till JJ picked up the remote control.

"Want to watch some television? I know that always makes me space out a bit," the blonde said, handing over the remote.

Thinking it over briefly, Cassie grabbed the remote with her good hand, and clicked on the television. Absentmindedly hitting the buttons, everything on the screen seemed to blur. Bright colors, words garbled, and music filled the silent room.

Finally landing on an episode of Gilmore Girls, Cassie put down the remote.

"I loved this show," JJ said, now looking up at the screen.

Cassie nodded slightly, "my mom and I used to watch this every week. We called ourselves the Prentiss girls" she mumbled, not breaking her gaze from the tv.

JJ's heart strings tugged, as she imagined the girl, sitting with an Emily look a like on a couch, in a living room. Knowing there wasn't anything to be said, JJ just smiled, and continued watching the show.


	10. Chapter 10

Emily was relieved to see as sleeping Cassie when she came back to the hospital with Morgan and Reid. She even got a kick of how intently JJ was watching the television show that was playing in the room.

"I'm glad the government is paying you top dollars to watch sitcoms," Emily teased to the blonde.

JJ crinkled her brow, "Em, it's not a sitcom, it's a drama about a mother-daughter duo, and it's amazing. It reminds me how much I miss having time to watch tv."

Shaking her head, she took a seat and looked over at Cassie.

"She's been sleeping for the last hour, and before that was pretty quite," JJ filled her in, knowing what the brunette was thinking.

"Good. Did she give you a hard time for being here, I think she felt that I sent you to babysit her," Emily asked.

"I think she was alright, she did ask what line of work you were in, and shockingly she knew about the BAU." Emily arched her eyebrows, no one was familiar with them unless they were part of the government, or needed their help.

"How so," she asked.

"Apparently before she dropped out of college, she was studying to go into government," JJ said, watching Emily's face light up.

Emily felt a bit closer to the girl now, knowing that somewhere in her DNA carried the Prentiss gene of going into government. She told JJ what they found, and the paperwork they were going through.

Looking at her clock and noticing it was almost 8pm, she told JJ to go home. They had followed the leads of the day, and she knew this week would be grueling.

"Are you sure Em, I could stay," the blonde asked.

"You already gave up your weekend for me," she said.

"That's what family does Em, you've done the same for me," JJ hugged her friend, meaning every word. Once again, it was just Emily and Cassie, sitting alone with the hum of the machines. Not giving in to her own exhaustion,

Emily puttered around the room, putting away some of the clothes she had bought over from Cassie's hotel room. Folding the clothes, and putting them in the drawers, Emily began to wonder when the girl would be able to leave the hospital. She knew that it would be at least a week or two for the swelling to go down, and to mend from her impending bone surgery. Then where would Cassie go?

She wasn't technically a child anymore, so Emily couldn't force her to stay with her, but the agent knew she would do everything in her power to persuade the girl to stay with her. There was no way she was going to let Cassie endanger herself even more with a killer on the loose. She was Lisa's daughter, and because of that face alone, Emily would protect her as much as she could.

Sighing, she wished that she would have been able to protect Lisa the same way she planned to protect Cassie. Fighting back tears, Emily continued to unpack the toiletries in the bathroom, to make it feel more personal.

The last thing in the bag was the small bear she had picked up last minute on Cassie's bed. It was a worn looking bear, Emily thought, trying to imagine what the bear had been through. She could imagine Cassie as a child clutching the bear, and her sister smiling at her daughter. Maybe it will bring her some comfort, the comfort I can't right now, she thought as she placed the bear next to the sleeping girl.

"There has to be someway I can help her through this," she said out loud, even though she knew there was no real answer. Returning to her chair, Emily closed her eyes, not wanting to think about any more missed memories, and heartaches.


	11. Chapter 11

Shooting up from the pillows, Cassie gasped for air. This was the fourth time she had done so in the last few hours, waking up from nightmares. Nightmares where she could feel her attacker grabbing her, yelling at her, and each time, she was frozen with fear.

Looking around, the girl began to calm down, realizing she wasn't being attacked. It was only a hospital room, the same hospital room she had been in for the last 72 hours. Emily was now asleep, taking up two chairs, and propping her head against her cardigan, which was now acting as a make shift pillow.

Cassie couldn't understand why Emily wasn't sleeping at her own place. She didn't want to be seen as a burden to her aunt, especially since they didn't even know each other. Absentmindedly, her free hand began to play with something soft, and familiar. It wasn't till a few minutes had passed till Cassie even decided to see what she was playing with.

Her jaw dropped a bit when she saw Mr. Snuggles in her hands. Mr. Snuggles had been with Cassie since her third birthday, when her mom gave her the bear for Christmas. It had traveled all over the place, from Disney World, to her college dorm, Mr. Snuggles was always present. There had been so many nights Cassie had just cried, clutching the bear, having it act like faithful friend who never judged.

He had been there for the friend betrayals of junior high, the romance break ups of high school, the home sickness of college, and even the lost of her mother. Slowly picking him up Cassie, brought it to her eye level and stared at the bear.

"All I want to do is go home," the girl softly said to the bear, not feeling a bit silly about talking to it. It was the truth, all Cassie wanted to do was have her mom pick her up, bring her back to their house, and hold her tightly. Her heart hurt, almost as bad as the night of her mother's death, at that moment.

Not being able to control her composure, the girl began to sob, the kind of sob that is gut wrenching, and causes the body to shake violently. The emotions of the attack were finally catching up to her, and the overwhelming awareness of being alone overtook her.

Emily woke up, startled from the sounds of sobbing. It took her a minute to realize the sounds were coming from the bed, next to her.

"What's wrong Cassie, are you in pain," Emily asked, putting her hand on the girls shoulder.

Cassie ignored her and just kept crying. Not knowing what to do, Emily just wrapped her arms around the girl, and held her tightly. The girl's sob only grew stronger at the point, but the agent did not lessen her grip. There were no words exchanged between the two, but the emotions present spoke louder than their voices could ever.

"You didn't have to sleep here," Cassie said, between hiccups.

"You can't be alone here by yourself," Emily said, handing the girl a tissue.

"I'm an adult Emily, I can. Besides, you have better things to do all night than to watch me break down," she mumbled.

Emily shook her head, "no, I really don't have anything else more important than this."

Cassie blew her nose, and took a few minutes to gather her thoughts.

"What about you husband or kids? I'm sure they need you," Cassie said.

Emily shook her head, "I'm single, childless, and work way to much for my own good," she said, extending a glass of water to the girl.

Cassie took the water while processing the information.

"You don't owe me anything," Cassie said.

"You came here to warn me about someone trying to hurt me, and I was a person you never even laid eyes on," Emily said, staring into Cassie's identical brown eyes.

"Yea, and I only brought more trouble to you," she grumbled.

Emily shook her head, "you're family, not trouble Cassie. I know Lisa would do the same if I had a daughter like you."

Cassie looked back down to Mr. Snuggles.

"Where did you find him," the girl asked, staring fiercely at the toy.

"Um, he was on the bed, and I figured you might want something familiar," Emily said, hoping the girl wasn't mad at her. Cassie nodded silently.

"What's his name," Emily asked softly.

"Mr. Snuggles," Cassie mumbled, blushing a little.

"I still have a rabbit named Thumper," she said, hoping to make the girl feel better.

"I feel like this pain in my heart will never go away," Cassie said in a haunting tone, still staring down. Emily swallowed hard, feeling the impact of the girl's words.

"It will Cassie, I know it doesn't seem like it will, but someday you'll wake up and realize that things are better," she said softly, knowing from experience that it was true.

Cassie nodded, "that's what they told me when she died, but things haven't gotten better, and now they're worse."

"Time Cassie, it will take time, but it will happen," Emily said, nodding her own head to reassure herself.

Cassie looked up finally, and looked into Emily's eyes. "

All I wish is that she was here," she said.

Emily nodded, "If I could, I would switch places with Lisa in a heart beat," she said meaning every word.

"She'd be happy you were with me," Cassie added.

Emily gave the girl a smile, "I'm pretty sure she would of kicked my ass if I wasn't."

"Why don't we see if the nurses can give you some strong sleeping stuff so maybe you can get a good night's sleep. You have a pretty rigid week coming up, so the rest will help prepare for it," Emily said, pressing the nurse's button.

Cassie, to tired to comment, nodded and closed her eyes again.

"Thank you Emily," she said, giving the agent a weak smile.

Feeling as if this was a start of chipping down Cassie's defense wall, Emily smiled as she smoothed Cassie's blankets. Although it was a horrible situation, Emily was glad that Cassie could begin to feel that she wasn't alone in the world. And for Emily, it felt oddly warming to know that someone in the world could use her care and love.


	12. Chapter 12

Morgan rubbed his face with his hands, trying to wake himself up. In reality, it had been a pretty good Monday morning so far, but the coffee was not doing its job this morning. First thing this morning, the team got a call from bookings that Cassie's attacker, Jacobs, was picked up for disorderly contact in a public place.

The cobs who nabbed him had no idea there was a warrant out for his arrest till the ran his prints in the system early this morning. Relieved that there was a break after brick wall they'd encountered this weekend, Morgan hoped that the perp would give them some more clues, on who was trying to kill Prentiss and the kid. Reid was munching on a muffin, looking over at Emily's empty desk.

"She's on her way over," Morgan said, knowing what Reid was thinking.

Reid nodded, "are you sure that's the best idea?"

Looking at Morgan's puzzled face he continued,

"She is apparently a target to whoever is after Cassie, not to mention the whole family ties thing."

Morgan shook his head, "you know that Emily would shoot us if we interviewed the bastard without her being there."

"Emily will not be shooting anyone," Hotch said, rounding the corner into the bull pen. Hotch couldn't of agreed more with Morgan about Emily.

He had just left the hospital an hour ago, where he had popped in to check on his agent. When the phone call came in, his was the lucky one to tell her that the perp was brought in. She immediately began swirling around obscenities, until Hotch had mentioned her sitting out for this one.

"Are you delusional Aaron," she answered, looking bewildered.

As he began to mention that she may be to close to the case, she stared him straight in the eyes, and said, "if this was Jack lying in the bed, you would have been there in a heartbeat."

Instantly, he shut up, and told her to meet the rest of the team back in the office at 11.

"Speak of the devil," Morgan said, as his eyes caught Prentiss.

From the moment the team saw her, they knew it wasn't the usual, put together Emily they worked with day in and day out. Her dark hair was thrown up in a pony tail, with stray pieces poking out. She had the same pair of black pants they had seen her in the previous day, with a now wrinkled red blouse. The bags under her eyes weer visible, due to the lack of sleep she'd gotten since Friday night.

"Where is he," she asked, not even wishing her co-workers good morning.

"Um, he's in conference room B, no one has gone in there yet, we were waiting for you. How's Cassie," Reid asked.

"She'll be better when we nail this son of a bitch," she muttered, looking around the bull pen. The remaining agents looked at each other, feeling the tension already. JJ joined the group, and instantly picked up on the worry written all over their face.

"Anytime you guys are ready, everything's set up. We have video tapping the interview, and guards out front," she said.

Subtly, she reached over and squeezed Emily's hand while the rest of the team moved down the hall way to the interview room.

"I'm okay Jae," the brunette said.

JJ nodded and walked silently till they reached the squad room. Emily looked through the window on the door to the conference room. He was sitting at the table, with his hands folded, muttering to himself. She could feel her blood begin to boil, as she took a deep breath. Keep it together Prentiss, she said to herself as she followed JJ into the room.

Morgan took the lead in the questioning, getting in Jacobs face, yelling at him to admit. The man was trembling, and mumbling oddities, which got louder every time Morgan spoke.

"How did you know the girl Jacobs? Did you follow her because you wanted to touch her, did she make you feel more like a man," Morgan screamed, pounding his fist on the table.

"I...I was paid to get her, and to write that message," Jacobs barked, looking frantically around the room. His eyes met Emily's, and she could tell the emotion he was feeling, trapped. She remained silent as she soaked up every little detail she could about him.

From his posture, to the diction in his voice, she was building a profile, to try to make sense of what he did to Cassie.

"Who sent you," Morgan said, leaning into Jacobs face.

"He paid me 10k, and told me that she needed to pay. I never saw the girl until a few nights ago," the perp said. Emily knew he was telling the truth based on the look in his eyes.

"What's his name," she said, startling the rest of the agents.

"He'll kill me," Jacobs said. She slowly approached Jacobs till she was smack in the middle of his face,

"So will the electric chair if you don't spit out his name, and location," she growled.

The man gulped, "Richard Montle, from Santa Barbara. He runs the family down there. The team looked at each other, knowing that the man had to be related from Cassie's life in California. And they all knew the family he was speaking of didn't involve the cleavers. He was referring to the mafia, which meant somehow Lisa and Cassie got them self mixed in with the wrong family.

"So wait, you came across country to do a job," Morgan asked. He nodded, "When Richard Montle asks you to do a job, you do a job," he said.

After a few more minutes, the team left the conference room, and headed back to the bull pin to regroup. "I'll get Garcia to pull up all of the information possible about Richard Montle. Reid and Morgan, go through the Santa Barbara police records to see if there were any recent cases against Montle. Rossi, see if you can get any more information about Jacobs. JJ, Emily and I are going to head over to the hospital to see if Cassie knows who this man is," Hotch said.

The team nodded in agreement, except Emily, who clearly wore a worried expression on her face. She knew that they had to question Cassie, but the girl was still a mess. Before she left to head over to office, Cassie was taken for different tests. Emily watched the orderly gingerly lift a reluctant victim, who had attempted to get in the chair herself. After almost going head off the bed, Cassie put her arm around the man, glaring at him. "I'm going into work for a little to get some more details on your case, but I gave the head nurse my cell phone if you need me," Emily said, hesitant to leave Cassie. "Did you find the guy who did this," she asked, shifting in the wheelchair. "Yes we did, and now we're going to try to figure out why," she said. Cassie nodded, not saying anything. Emily gave her a smile as the orderly pushed her out the door, and out of sight.

"Maybe Cassie isn't ready for all of this, I mean for Christ's sake her face is still swollen," she said, shaking her head.

"Em, you know this is the only way to get a hold on this situation is to go to the source, "JJ said, knowing that they had no other choice.

JJ had been in plenty of hospital rooms to interview victims, and knew all to well the pain their faces. Barely out of danger, and forced to wrack their brains of information, with the pressure that went along with it. JJ knew that Emily had the same experience, and wanted to shield Emily from that.

"I know that JJ, I know that," Emily said, annoyed at herself that she was even questioning going to the hospital to question.

"Alright, let's go," Hotch said, leading the way out of the building.


	13. Chapter 13

When the agents reached the hospital, they found Cassie returned to her bed, showered and somewhat dressed. Instead of the standard hospital gear, she was now wearing a baggy pair of sweatpants, and a purple tank top. Her hair was wet, and pulled into a french braid, leaving her face uncovered. Cassie had refused to look into a mirror while she was getting washed with the help of a nurse.

Even though she couldn't see the bruising, every time the wash rag touched a part of her body, shooting pain vibrated through out. She was grateful for the nurse's gentle touch, and for making her feel a bit more human. It felt so much better to be in her own clothes, and to have some control over what she was doing.

After a morning full of doctor's appointments, she was sick of being told she was lucky to be alive. The doctor kept reiterating that it was a miracle that there weren't any internal bleeding. Her leg would need several pins inserted, but she would be able to wear a walking cast after two weeks. Her arm was in better shape than originally thought, and would only need to be rested in a sling for another week or so. Throughout the whole appointment, she just nodded her head like a robot.

There was nothing she wanted to say, except that she wished the bastard had finished her off. Although physically she was going to make a full recovery, she wondered if she would ever feel mentally sound again.

"Hey Cassie," Emily said, knocking on the open hospital room door.

Cassie gave a weak smiled, and turned off the television, replying "hey."

Emily was glad to see Cassie had freshened up, since she was becoming concerned about the girl not wanting to do anything but stare into space.

"How did the doctor's appointments go," she asked as JJ and Hotch waited outside for her cue.

Cassie shrugged, "apparently all my organs are fine, and all I really need are screws in this leg," she said, pointing to the cast on her right leg.

"Your swelling seems to have gone down," Emily said, trying not to wince at the purplish greenish bruise along Cassie's jawline. "

So they say, I haven't seen myself since I left the room that night, nor do I want to," she said, playing with her fingers.

Emily made a mental note to try to get a psych evaluation pronto, but decided to tackle that later.

"We think we found your attacker, but he wasn't the one who had it out for you," Emily said.

Cassie cocked her head slightly, now giving Emily her full attention.

"I brought JJ, the woman who was here yesterday, and my boss Agent Hotchner with me to ask you some questions. Is that okay," she asked, waiting for Cassie's response.

Cassie bit her bottom lip, knowing she had to answer their questions. Whoever was after her, and now Emily had to be caught, and apparently her aunt was good at what she did.

"It's fine," she said in a quiet voice. Emily nodded, and went out in the hallway to retrieve the two agents. Moments later, the smiling blonde, and a tall, dark haired man entered the room.

"Hi Cassie, my name is Agent Aaron Hotchner, but you can call be Aaron if you'd like," Hotch said, extended his hand to Cassie.

Although he had seen her when she was in a coma, this was the first time he officially met her. He was taken back by the striking similarities between the older Prentiss and the younger. The brown eyes, pale skin, strong jawline made Hotch feel he was staring at a younger version of Emily.

It took everything in her power to not drop her jaw. Out of the seven years she'd worked with Hotch, he had never introduced himself as Aaron. Only in tender, fleeting intimate moments had she ever called him Aaron, but they too were few and far between.

Cassie shook his hand, grateful that he had not treated her like a victim.

"How are you feeling today," JJ asked as she and Hotch took seats next to the bed.

"I can open my eyes for more than an hour today," she answered truthfully.

Cassie decided that she liked JJ, because of her easy going attitude. The two were able to watch television in silence yesterday, without it being awkward, or her trying to ask questions. There was a rare sincere quality to the blonde woman that Cassie hadn't seen since she left her best friend in California, Maria.

"It's a start," JJ smiled, taking out a small notebook.

"I know that the events of the other night are very blurred and fragmented, but do you remember a mention of a Richard Montle," Hotch asked, trying to gage Cassie's reaction.

Sure enough, her round, brown eyes widened.

"I, I can't remember him being brought up then, but I know him," she said, her voice quivering.

The agents looked at each other, waiting for the girl to answer. "He was mom's boyfriend, mom's ex boyfriend" she answered.

Emily's stomach dropped to the floor. How in the world did her sister get involved with a mobster, she thought.

Although JJ was shocked, she made sure her face remain the image of calmness

"Oh really? How long did they date for," she asked calmly.

Cassie shifted nervously, "they dated for about two years, he celebrated holidays with us, slept over all the time. Mom was really happy until things began to go bad," Cassie said, her eyes glazing over once again.

"Can you elaborate on what bad means," Hotch asked, not wanting to push the girl too far.

"All of a sudden he disappeared in the middle of dinner, or would receive phone calls that would send him ballistic. Mom thought he was on drugs, and did some snooping around. One day she just told me that Montle was no good for us, and he was going to involve us in a lot bad things that she wanted nothing to do with," Cassie trailed off, her mind clearly drifting into thought.

Emily desperately wanted to stop the interviewing and let Cassie stop reliving the past. Clearly demons haunted Cassie, why did they have to bring them up even further? But this was part of their job, and they had to do it.

"Did he hit her, or you," JJ asked, hoping the answer was no.

Cassie shook her head, "No, but once mom said they needed a break, he kept saying he wasn't going to leave her alone, that they belonged together," Cassie said, adverting her eyes from the agents.

"Did he make any particular threats," Emily managed to asking, finally summoning up the courage to ask something.

"He kept calling her, like 95 times a week. He would leave messages for her in our mailbox, and said that she knew too much to leave. I kept asking her what he meant, and she would say it's none of my business. But it was my business, because she..." her voice broke, as tears began rolling down her cheeks.

She was so mad at her self for loosing it in front of total strangers. This from the girl who wouldn't even cry in front of her own mother unless necessary. Emily handed her a glass of water, and said "it's okay, take your time." Cassie drank the water, and regained her composure.

"From what I heard from friends was the Montle was apparently a mob boss in our area, but we didn't know that, we figured he was just the owner of the bar. It wasn't till mom told him that if he didn't leave her alone, she was going to go to her sister, who was in the FBI," Cassie continued, this time staring right at Emily.

Emily could feel her face flush at the mention of her sister. Her sister was going to reach out after all of these years, for help. Help that Emily would of given in a heart beat. Silence filled the air, till Hotch finally broke it.

"Cassie, what happened then," he already knew her answer, but she had to say it. Cassie closed her eyes, reliving the whole entire day as if it were yesterday.

"Mom called me one night, and came over to my dorm. She made me promise her if anything happened, I would go find her sister, for help. I kept asking her if she was in danger, and begging her to go to the police. She refused, and told me that she just needed to say that to me," Cassie said, her eyes tearing up.

This time, Emily too had tears in her eyes. She brushed them away with her fingers, trying with all of her might not to fall apart.

"Two days later, the cops showed up at my dorm and told me that mommy was gone," Cassie said, tears flowing freely.

"Apparently someone had broken in to the house, there was a struggle, but the attacker won," Cassie barely whispered, looking down at her sheets.

JJ grabbed Cassie's hand and squeezed it, as her own eyes welled up from tears. She knew behind her that her best friend and co-worker was in tears, but right now she had to focus on Cassie.

Aaron swallowed hard and nodded, not daring to look at Emily. He couldn't bare to see her in so much pain. She was learning the details of her sister's death for the first time, in the worst way possible.

"I knew that I had to go find Emily, and to tell her mom's message. It wasn't till I started receiving calls myself that I realized someone thought I knew something," she continued.

"What kind of calls," Hotch asked.

"The caller kept saying that my mother died because she knew to much, and that I was next, and my aunt" she said, looking over at Emily. Emily stared back at Cassie, realizing what was going on.

Apparently this asshole thought Lisa had already rated him out to her daughter and sister, and as long as they knew his story, they had to die.

"Why didn't you go to the authorities," Hotch asked once again, plowing along the interview.

Cassie sighed, "they didn't help my mom, and if he had someone following me, they would know I for sure ratted him out. So I knew somehow I had to warn Emily, and let her know.." again she trailed off.

Emily's heart literally began to ache. This stranger, whom she knew nothing about, risked her life, left everything she ever knew, just to deliver her mother's warning. Emily's connection to Lisa was all Cassie needed to care about her well-being.

"So that's when you dropped out of school, and sold the house," JJ asked.

Cassie nodded, "I couldn't go back being a regular student when I knew someone killed my mother, was trying to kill me, and my aunt who didn't even know who I was."

That statement caused Emily to flinch with guilt.

"Besides, I lived with my friends, and if anything happened to them," Cassie said.

JJ smiled reassuringly at the girl, admiring her loyalty, which was similar to Emily's.

"Do you know of any locations Montle might be at, or people who he hangs around with," Hotch asked, already formulating a game plan.

Cassie nodded, "wait, why did you even ask about him," she asked now going back to the original question.

"I thought you found my attacker." Hotch looked over at Emily, to let her deliver this blow.

"We believe Montle sent Jacobs to kill you, and to find me," she said in an almost icy voice. Cassie blinked a few times, and touched her hand to her back.

"What did he write on my back," she asked, wanting an answer.

While at her appointment today, she was told the scarring on her back would be fixable with plastic surgery when the wounds healed. When asked what was wrong with it, the doctor stumbled over his words and told her to ask to see the crime scene photos.

"Cassie, he wrote a warning to me in your blood. Next of kin, next to die," she said, blurting it out knowing there was no way to soften the blow.

Cassie's face flushed, the blood rushing to her cheeks rapidly. Not only did this ass rape her, beat her, but mutilated her back.

"I'm going to be sick," she mumbled, covering her mouth.

Emily and JJ scrambled to grab her a bucket. Emily handed her a glass of water, once again being the only helpful thing she could think of in this situation. JJ wet some towels to put on Cassie's shoulders, to help relieve the flushed anxiety feeling.

Hotch pretended to look out the window during the whole ideal, not wanting Cassie to be embarrassed.

"I'm sorry Aaron," she said softly, feeling humiliated.

He shook his head, "Honestly Cassie, I wouldn't of been able to get through this interview as calm as you have."

Emily looked over at him, her eyes thanking him for being so kind, and considerate in this case.

"What are you going to do now," Cassie said, in a way afraid to know.

"We're going to track down Montle, and make him pay for his crimes," he said, looking Cassie straight in the eyes.

For some reason, Cassie had complete faith in Aaron.

"Now excuse me while I make a few phone calls. JJ can you please alert the team to meet us in the conference room here. Prentiss you can stay here till the team gets here," he said, heading out the door. J

J told the Prentiss women that she'd be back in a bit, and shut the door behind her. There was a heavy silence hanging in the room, where the two women sat in their respective places.

"I wished she had called me," Emily said, thinking out loud.

"She still loved you," Cassie said, trying to comfort her aunt.

As much as she was hurting, she could tell by Emily's actions that her heart was aching as well.

Emily nodded, " and I loved her too."

The women sat there in silence, lost in their own thoughts, but sharing the comfort of being able to release their tears freely.


	14. Chapter 14

JJ ran her fingers through her hair repeatedly, as if she was going to find the right answers in the mess of of her blonde hair somehow. Now that they had a suspect, it was only natural to go across the country and find him. But, with the suspect knowing his targets were out of state, would he even be in California?

Of course the perp was too much of a coward to do the job himself so he hired Jacobs, but would he want to be around to make sure it down smoothly. Did he even know that Cassie survived. So many questions, and so little answers, she sighed, looking around at the rest of the team. After meeting with Cassie, and recounting her Lifetime worthy tale, Hotch had called the team into a meeting at the hospital conference room.

"One thing for sure is this Montle is no joke," Morgan said, noticing the stressed look on his co-worker's face.

"His outward persona is a local bar owner, of an establishment called Nino Via, and he owns part of a knife company that his brother established several years ago," Morgan said, reading the information he found.

"So the model knife that was used on Cassie came from the same company," Reid asked.

Morgan nodded, "just another link in this twisted case."

"But what about his actual profession," JJ asked, bracing herself.

"Apparently Montle is known as Richard Jax in the mob community in the Santa Barbara and Sherman Oaks area of California. He's been connected to several murders, rapes, and robberies, but the local police have yet to actually pin him. And his criminal record is under Jax, not Montle," Morgan answered.

"So if a woman were to look him up online, all that would show up is his fake good guy act," JJ said, disgusted.

Reid nodded, "and according to police this guy has a strangle hold on men that he employees. The loyalty is fierce, hence why we're having trouble getting any information on his where abouts," Reid said, knowing that it wasn't the news JJ wanted to here.

Rossi walked in the room, with a stoic look on his face. Just by glancing at him, the team knew he had information that wasn't going to be good.

"Sorry I'm late Hotch, I just got off the phone with Montle's secretary from the bar. Apparently our prince charming has been out of town for his friend's funereal for the last week, and there's no set date for his return," Rossi said mockingly, since he knew he that there was no funereal.

The reason he was out of town was to create a reason for one.

"Funereal my ass," Morgan said in disgust.

"He has to be in the area then, I mean the chances of this being a coincident are one in.." Reid started before Hotch cut him off.

"Okay, so we're not going to California at the moment," Hotch said, coming to a decision.

If the team had gone out there, and Montle was in D.C., it would give him more time to come up with a game plan, or to flee.

"I think we should go back and try to figure out where Jacobs hung out since he came to town. He had to of met up with Montle at some point ," Rossi said.

The team nodded in agreement, knowing that there had to be some spotting of Montle. And if he was as powerful as every was saying he was, then he must have some sort of headquarters out here.

"Good idea, Rossi and Morgan go back to the station to find out where Jacobs was staying. Reid, start calling motels in the area and see if they had any patrons by the name of Jax, Montle or Jacobs." Hotch ordered, feeling a bit better knowing that they had some sort of a plan.

"What do you want me to to Hotch," JJ asked, realizing that there was nothing given to her, since there wasn't any media involved in this case.

"Connect with the local pd and make sure that there is undercover security outside the hospital. Also, alert them that if they receive any tips about any activity by Montle, or whatever alias he may use, to alert us immediately. I'm going to have Garcia try to find any activity on Montle and Jacobs credit card," Hotch said.

"Hey Jae" he continued as JJ began to leave the conference room.

The blonde spun around, and noticed her supervisor's face had softened.

"Before you do that, can you check on Emily, to make sure she's okay," he asked.

JJ smiled, knowing quite well that Hotch was concerned for her well being. They all knew too well that when it came to emotions and sharing, Emily was a stone wall. She had always prided herself on compartmentalizing, and it had served her well in this field, but it also made it impossible to find how she was mentally.

Hotch wanted to be there 100 percent, but he knew that he had to keep this investigation strong, so he could end this nightmare for her. He knew JJ was a person that Prentiss confided in at times, and there was something about JJ that made people feel open to sharing their feelings. It's what made the blonde such a great agent, because her empathy was as strong as her skills.

"I will, but I know she'll be okay. As much as this whole situation is a disaster, being able to help Cassie get through her grief will help Emily work through hers," JJ said, knowing Emily would never admit that.

"I guess we'll see," he mused, as he followed the her out the door.


	15. Chapter 15

Emily and JJ stood in the middle of the hospital cafeteria, staring at the drinks and treat in the cold case section.

"This is insane. What do I choose," Emily wondered out loud, looking from sodas to energy drinks.

The two women had wandered towards the cafeteria to grab Cassie something to snack on, since the cafeteria food wasn't super appetizing. Cassie had been asleep when JJ had popped into the hospital room to persuade Emily to take a walk with her.

"Um, did she mention anything she was craving, or disliked," JJ asked, even though she already knew the answer.

"All I know is that she doesn't like plain milk. They sent it up yesterday with her dinner and she gave it to me," the brunette mumbled.

"I know more about the serial killers we track than about my own niece," she sighed, feeling overwhelmed by all of the choice. Seriously, why is there six different flavors of Sprite now a days, she thought to herself.

"Em, you're being way to hard on yourself. You just met each other," JJ said, trying to make her friend feel better.

Emily shrugged, knowing all that was true, but it didn't change anything.

"Lisa loved Cherry coke as a kid, she drank it by the case," Emily said as she picked up a bottle.

"Maybe she passed on the love to Cassie," JJ reasoned.

"She's not Lisa," Emily sighed, knowing that she couldn't base all of her assumptions on Cassie on her sister.

"True, but it's okay to try to create a baseline of information based on Lisa, while you get know Cassie as an individual," JJ reassured her.

"Now what about the snack," Emily groaned, now eyeing the five rows of candy bars.

JJ smiled, bent down and grabbed a Hershey's Chocolate bar.

"We may not know Cassie that well, but she is a woman and as members of the female race, we can agree that chocolate makes things a bit better," the blonde smiled.

Emily agreed, and walked to the check out counter as JJ grabbed two cups of coffee. After everything was paid for, the two found a quiet corner in the cafeteria to sit down.

"Even this horrible hospital coffee tastes amazing right now," Emily said as she took in the dark liquid.

Her body was running on pure adrenaline at the moment, and her joints were stiff as a board. Sleeping in a curled up ball on barely padded hospital chairs had reeked havoc on her joints. And she needed to shower and change her clothes, she remembered as she looked down at her wrinkled black slacks. "After this, why don't you go back to your apartment for a little bit, take a nap, and shower. I'll stay with Cassie," JJ offered.

"I don't want to leave her more than I have to," Emily said.

"You need to shower. I love you but, it's not healthy to go this long in the same clothes," JJ half joked.

Emily nodded, "true, but I don't know about the nap. Maybe I can get a cot brought into Cassie's room."

"That can be arranged, I'll call to see if they can bring it up while you're out," JJ said, happy to at least get the agent to shower.

"Are you okay," JJ blurted out after a few moments of silence.

"Don't I appear to be," she smirked, taking another swig of her coffee.

"You always do Em, but honestly you're going through some intense stuff right now," she asked in a concerning voice.

"Honestly, I'm shaken up. If there was someone who was willing to carve up an innocent girl, and he's after me," she stopped, letting the silence finish her statement.

"It's okay to be scared, you're human,"JJ said softly, putting her hand over Emily's hand.

"But there's no time to be scared, there's a murderer to be caught, a niece to get to know, and an attacker prosecuted," the brunette pointed out. '

"And you're working through the fear quite well, agent Prentiss," JJ admitted.

"I just want to keep the girl safe, and hopefully she let's me. I'm already nervous that she won't want to stay with me when she get's discharged," Emily said.

"Oh you know she well Em, she wants to get to know you. Or she would of asked you to leave her hospital room. Sure she's wary, but not disconnected to you," JJ said, knowing that it must be hard for Cassie to even try to open up.

"Good point," Emily agreed.

Cassie rubbed her eyes, waking up from a short lived nap. She couldn't understand how taking a nap could make her more tired. It was only her in the room, and she assumed that Emily went off to do some more work or something.

Realizing it was one of the first times since the accident she'd been alone, she felt oddly uncomfortable. She enjoyed her privacy, and her space, which she had been used to being an only child. And for the last six months, she'd been alone and preferred it. She didn't have to put on a happy face for anyone, and could actually be.

Back in California, she was constantly being asked how she was doing, and if she was okay. Not wanting to worry anyone, she would smile and say each day was getting easier. It was a bold face lie, but somehow she convinced everyone around her it was cannon.

After nearly dying, she wasn't afraid of being blunt with her aunt, or the other agents. A good thing was that they didn't know the cheerful, optimistic Cassie that her friends knew back home. They knew a comatose, rape victim who is trying to recover from near fatal injuries – and they didn't expect her to be cheery.

Just being around Emily, she had the feeling that the older woman wasn't one who was an eternal optimist. Maybe it was the drugs, or her frame of mind, but Cassie just didn't give a shit what anyone thought at the moment.

Before she was attacked, she replayed the potential meeting of her aunt over and over again. Sometimes, the scenario in her head played out horrible. That Emily would meet her and just become furious, that she would bother her out of the blue.

Cassie had been afraid Emily would be so mad at Lisa for dropping off the face of the Earth that she wouldn't listen to her. Other times, Cassie would picture Emily being happy to see her. Cassie had figured Emily had a few kids, maybe cousins that resembled her, perhaps an uncle. All the things she dreamed about in her fantasy family reunion were dashed, but somehow Cassie knew she wouldn't of been able to handle meeting the new people she already had met, plus a bunch of relatives.

Snapping her out of thought, Emily and JJ entered the room, carrying treats.

"We figured you may want some junk food. That brownie that came with your lunch didn't look to great," Emily said, handing her the soda and candy. Cassie grinned, the first actual grin Emily had seen on the girl.

"Thanks, I've been going through caffeine withdrawal," the girl said, as she attempted to bite open the candy bar wrapper.

"I'll do that, here," Emily reached over to open the soda and then took the bar out of the wrapper. Cassie blushed with embarrassment, because with her other arm out of commission, even doing trivial things required assistance.

"Did you find out anymore information," Cassie asked between munches of her the candy bar.

Emily looked at JJ, and debating on how much she should tell the girl. She didn't want to scare Cassie, but after what the girl had gone through, she had a right to do.

"We believe Montle is behind this, and that he's in the area," Emily said, trying to conceal her nerves. Cassie nearly spit out her coke all over the place.

"Why didn't the police catch him in California," she asked, trying to wrap her brain around the idea that the man she saw as a father figure was behind all of this.

"He's a mastermind at covering up, and he get's people to do his dirty work. But we're on the case, and he's going to pay," JJ assured her, knowing that the girl was freaked.

"Looks like the restraining orders mom put out were useless," she mumbled.

Emily knew that even though she supported and worked for the government, there were flaws. Flaws that left holes, which sucked up Lisa, and Cassie in it's path.

"So I heard you received good news from the doctor today," JJ mentioned, trying to change the subject.

Cassie shrugged, "yea now I only need one surgery, and my organs will live to see another day," she said more bitterly than she had hoped.

"Awesome, I'm sure you're dying to get out of here," JJ asked, trying to gage Cassie's reaction.

Cassie looked down at her hands, and took another sip of her soda. "It's nice not to have to pay for a motel room, and at least I know I'm safe here," she said quietly, not wanting to make eye contact with Emily.

Emily cleared her throat, "you don't have to go back to the motel Cassie, you can stay with me. I have plenty of space, and an extra room for you. It's a hell of a lot nicer than that flea bag motel," she said.

Cassie slowly brought her gaze up to her aunt, with her eyes showing the acceptance in them.

"You mean it? I don't want to be a charity case," she warned, making it clear that she didn't want to be an obligation just because she was her sister's daughter.

Emily shook her head, "you're the farthest thing away from a charity case Cassie."

"And her guest bed is really comfy, I've spent many a nights there after a heavy night of drinking," JJ laughed, trying to lighten the mood.

Cassie smiled, glad to know her aunt was fond of the bar scene.

"Now I'm going to run home and take care of a few things. JJ is going to hang with you," Emily said in a tone that Cassie knew she wouldn't be able to protest.

She knew Emily had said JJ was here for security purposes, but Cassie knew that watching tv reruns was not part of security detail.

"Thanks Emily," Cassie said, as Emily walked out the door.

JJ turned to Cassie after Emily left, "you know Emily has a really nice apartment," she said.

Cassie nodded, "I just hope she really means it."

JJ put her hand on Cassie's leg, "Emily Prentiss does not say anything she does not mean. And she always follows through on her actions," JJ assured her.

By the look in JJ's eyes, she could tell that the woman was telling the truth.

"Now why don't we see what awesome reruns they play on basic cable on Monday afternoons," JJ smiled, flipping on the tv.

"Stop, I love this show," Cassie practically shouted.

"Dharma and Greg," JJ asked, surprised that they showed reruns of the show still.

"Greg is a cutie," Cassie laughed.

JJ titled her head, "he is indeed, and he reminds me of someone, I just can't put my finger on it."


	16. Chapter 16

Dr. Reid was smiling to himself in the hospital conference room. He had a productive day so far, and felt good about the information he was able to get today. Not only were he and Morgan able to get some leads on where Montle might have been staying, but they also were able to get more information out of Jacob. Only after Morgan had him pinned to the ground, did Jacobs finally admit that Montle had a observance team in place in DC. The only down side was when they went to storm the motel Jacobs had said Montle was staying, it was already abandoned.

About to call it a day, Reid was hopeful that tomorrow would bring a day of greater progress. He was sad that he hadn't been able to chat with Emily more, being that he'd been out all day, and she was running errands. The sadness on her face was so evident to him, and he knew that even when they caught this unsub, the look wouldn't go away. Lost in thoughts, he didn't even here JJ come into the room.

"Spence good you're still here," JJ said out of breath.

He grinned, "in the flesh."

"I have a phone conference with the Sherman Oaks PD in a half hour at the station, and Emily texted me saying that she was in the middle of making some health insurance phone calls for Cassie. Is there anyway you can hang a bit longer with Cassie? I know there's extra security out side the hospital, but Em doesn't want to take any chances," JJ explained.

Reid nodded, even though his stomach began to flip a bit. Although they had been working on the case for the last four days, he had yet see the girl in person. He was used to seeing victims in bad shape, and had always been able to maintain a poker face. But this wasn't just some victim who they just met, this was mini Prentiss. But he knew that it was important for Emily for Cassie not to be alone, and he considered Emily to be like family.

"Is she awake," he asked while they walked to Cassie's room.

"At the moment yet, but she dozes off and on. She's not going to bite your head off Spence,"JJ assured him, noticing his nerves.

"I know that JJ, my head would never fit into her mouth," he mumbled as the entered the door.

Cassie was staring at the television screen, not paying attention to the two agents entering the room. Pausing for a moment, Reid took a good look at the girl. He could tell her bruising was painful, since the resembled the ones he had received during his kidnapping. But it didn't take away from her beauty, and those brown eyes that made him feel instantly safe, similar to the elder Prentiss.

"Cassie, this is Dr. Spencer Reid, he's our co-worker, and friend. He's going to take over security detail for me while I'll head over to the office for a bit," JJ explained.

Cassie looked over at Reid, and sized him up. He looked awfully young to be an agent, especially for what she had known about the BAU from her classes. She knew Emily was 38, and figured JJ was probably 33, 34, but the young doctor in front of her couldn't be a day past 28.

"Pleased to meet you Cassie," Reid said, extended his hand to the girl.

Cassie shook it, and was surprised at the strong grip the man used. All skin and bones, but some impressive strength she thought.

"Hey, you know JJ I really don't need anyone here, honest," Cassie said, "no offense Dr. Reid."

"Please call me Spencer, and really I don't mind. Besides, if anyone comes in here and hurts you, with no FBI agents on call, we wouldn't be doing our jobs," he explained, making JJ relived she didn't have to give the whole protective detail speech again.

"Alright," Cassie said, accepting that there was no way to convince the agents other wise.

"Alright, see ya later guys," JJ waved, and headed on her way.

Reid made himself comfortable in the arm chair by the window, and propped his legs up on the window sill.

"So aren't you a little young to be an FBI agent," Cassie asked, not able to squash her curiosity.

"Well I had an early start really, all part of the genius thing," Reid said, blushing a bit.

Cassie nodded, "that's pretty cool."

Reid shrugged, "it's been a wild ride so far," he admitted.

"Do you like working with my aunt," she asked.

"Emily is a great agent, with the keenest ability to profile," he proudly said of his co-worker, "she's been a great mentor." Spencer meant every word of it, and hoped that one day Cassie would be able to see that.

"Then I'm glad I have her on my side," Cassie said.

"So what do you do for fun, besides track down killers and long lost family members," he joked.

Cassie laughed, "well you know, I'm also a trained assassin."

Reid's eyes became as round as saucers, till Cassie shook her head.

"I've never even shot a gun before," she assured him.

"I spend a lot of time reading, watching sci-fi flicks, drawing," she said, going down the list of things she used to enjoy doing.

Reid's face lit up, "ah a sci-fi lover, a woman to my own heart," he said.

He then made the cling-on sign, which Cassie mimicked with her good hand, "Trekie since the fourth grade," she admitted.

The two went on to have a very involved conversation on the different casts of characters, and how the movies never lived up to the series.

After a while, Emily had finally gotten back to the hospital. She had spent the afternoon checking it at the office, showering, feeding Sergio, and calling insurance carriers for Cassie. Now dressed in a more comfortable pair of jeans and a sweatshirt, Emily was ready to take over Cassie duty.

Reaching the room, Emily was surprised to actually hear laughter coming from the room. Standing outside, the woman was surprised to see Reid talking a mile a minute, with his hands flying in every direction. She was even more surprised when she saw an alert Cassie laughing, and nodding her head. There was a glimmer in the girl's eye that had yet to been seen by Emily, and it was proof that somewhere inside the girl there was a glimpse of her old self.

Usually Reid was quiet around new people, but he seemed to be quite comfortable around Cassie, and vice versa. Maybe it was good for her to have someone her own age to open up to, someone that didn't have all of this pressure attached to them.

After admiring the scene for a bit longer, Emily made herself known.

"Looks like a pretty happening conversation," she said.

Cassie nodded, "apparently Reid is also a huge Treckie," she said eagerly, like a little kid finding out another kid also liked the same thing.

"She's the only person out side of the convention who actually can name every member of each generation," Reid informed Emily, as if it were rocket science. Shaking her head head, she was surprised that Cassie shared this love with Reid.

"Cool, that sounds like fun," she said.

"Well I need to go drop these files off, but we can talk about the 2nd generation tomorrow," he said eagerly.

Cassie nodded at super speed, "sounds good," she practically squealed.

Emily looked from Spencer to Cassie quite puzzled. Maybe the two were heading in the directions of being best friends, she thought. That made her smile, since she loved Reid and knew he was nothing but a good influence. Reid left, leaving Emily to pick up the empty coffee cups, and food wrappers left over.

"So you had good time with JJ and Spence," she asked.

Cassie nodded, "they're pretty cool, and it's nice to have someone to talk to other than the nurses."

After a few minutes of silence, Emily could tell Cassie was thinking of something, by the way she was biting her bottom lip.

"Cassie what's wrong, are you in pain," Emily asked.

Cassie shook her head, "no, it's just, why is there protective detail always in my room," she asked, sounding genuinely scared.

Emily sat down on the edge of the bed, "this guy who's after you means serious business, and the first time around her failed," Emily explained, "so this time I'm not going to let him try again, and this team is the best in the FBI. In addition, they are my family, which makes them part of your family now. There is no way anyone is getting past any of us," Emily assured her.

Cassie rubbed her eyes, trying to calm herself down.

"I just want to be able to close my eyes, and for this to be all over," she said sadly.

"That day is coming soon Cassie, just keep saying that to yourself," Emily assured her.

"You don't mind sleeping in here with me, honestly," Cassie asked, knowing that her aunt's back must be super sore after being folded into the chair in the room.

"Not going to lie, I miss my bed, but as long as your here, then that's where I'll be. Besides, the orderly is bringing me up a cot tonight," Emily admitted.

Cassie laughed, "thank God, because if someone does come in here, you're going to be too sore to fight them off."

Emily laughed, "Good one Prentiss," she said.

Cassie grinned, glad to know that whatever was after the two of them, was going to have to get through a lot of people to even attempt to hurt them.


	17. Chapter 17

Hotch walked down the hospital hall way, with three cups of coffee in tow, wondering if he was making the right decision. It was a little after 8 pm, and he had sent the rest of the team home for the night, since they had made substantial progress tonight.

As he was packing away files, he couldn't get his mind off of Emily, and how she was dealing with her newly found role of aunt. Though JJ had assured him that she was adjusting well, and that Cassie was warming up to her, he wanted to check on his agent, his friend, himself.

Approaching Cassie's door, he knocked lightly, till he heard a familiar voice telling him to come in. Opening the door slowly, he saw a sleeping girl on one bed, and a sprawled out Emily on a cot.

"Hotch, is everything okay," Emily asked, very flustered as she pushed herself up on cot. She had been going through some files, lost in her own world since Cassie dozed off a bit ago.

"Relax Prentiss, everything's fine. I just figured you two might like some coffee," he asked, taking a seat at the table near the window.

Emily smiled, and took a seat next to him.

"You thought correctly, I swear without coffee these last few days, my body would be a heap on the floor," she joked, as she drank out of the Styrofoam cup.

"You should be eating something, coffee alone won't keep you alive," he warned, worried that the woman wasn't eating properly.

"Okay dad," she smirked, taking another sip of her coffee.

"How's Cassie doing," he asked, noticing the girl looked more peaceful than earlier.

"She's as well as to be expected. I'm sure she'll appreciate the coffee when she wakes up," Emily said.

"Have you two been getting along okay? I know this all came out of left field, taking on a caretaker role," he asked, wrinkling his brow.

Emily traced the lid of her coffee cup with her finger. She hadn't really had a chance to label what she was to Cassie, everything was just happening very fast.

"I wouldn't call myself a caretaker Hotch, it's not me pumping her with medicine, or cleaning her wounds," she admitted.

"Emily, you know that a caretaker is more than a physical job. It's about listening, nurturing, and supporting someone, and by the looks of all this, I'd say you fit the bill," Hotch pointed out.

"Every time I think about leaving her alone, I go into a panic attack because this maniac is till loose. This is a girl who has no one, and if things were different, I would have been there for her earlier. By helping her, and protecting her, I'm honoring Lisa's memory," she said softly, not wanting to wake the girl up.

"Fair enough. Have you called your mother or thought about," Hotch began to say before Emily threw up her hand.

"Don't even go there, you know that my relationship with her is already in shambles. How do I tell her that her eldest daughter is dead, and her newly found granddaughter was found raped and left for dead? You can't exactly put that in a Christmas card, or a telegram," she scoffed, shaking her head.

"Sorry I brought it up," he said, embarrassed that he didn't even take Emily's past into consideration.

Emily's eyes softened, "I'm sorry Hotch, that wasn't directed towards you. It's just I know eventually I have to contact her, and I know she's going to want to barrel in here and see Cassie. And I don't want her spooking Cassie, or making a big deal. With the ambassador, it's all about her. It will be about her grief, her loss, her pain –not Cassie," Emily explained, with a hint of bitterness in her voice.

As much as her heart broke for her Lisa, she knew Cassie's pain was ten times worse. And in order to create any relationship with her niece, Emily had to focus on helping Cassie cope with her trauma. Noticing there was another voice in the room, Cassie opened her eyes and looked around the room.

"We didn't mean to wake you Cassie," Emily apologized.

Cassie shook her head slightly, "no, I was only half asleep anyway, and this stupid headache woke me up," she said.

"Hi Cassie, there's a cup of coffee for you if you'd like," Hotch offered.

Cassie smiled, "thanks Aarron, shouldn't I be buying you coffee, I mean you are the one trying to track down my attacker."

Hotch flashed her an encouraging smile, which secretly made Emily's heart flutter. "It's just what I do," he said nonchalantly, handing her the cup of coffee.

Emily watched as the girl winced trying to drink the cup of coffee.

"Does your arm hurt again too," Emily asked. Cassie sipped her coffee, taking a moment to enjoy the warmth.

"Everything hurts worse at night," she mumbled, not wanting to complain.

"I bet if we ask the doctor he can give you something for it. You shouldn't have to wince to take a drink," Emily said.

"But the medicine makes my head all fuzzy, like I can't think straight," Cassie complained, hating the way the medicine made her feel. It was as if her mind wandered to everything and anything, sometimes good things, but usually the terrible things she purposely hid away.

"Maybe they can put you on something else, I mean there are tons of medications out there today," Hotch pointed out, trying to help.

"Next time the nurse comes in here I'll ask, it's been a while since they made rounds anyway," Cassie said, looking at the clock on the wall.

"No need to wait, I'll go get one now," Emily said, not waiting for a response.

Before Cassie could stop her Emily was out the door.

"When Emily says she's going to do something she does it," Hotch said as he saw Cassie's face turn red.

"I don't want the nurses thinking I'm a baby," she admitted, feeling embarrassed that she had to send her aunt to ask for help.

Hotch shook his head, "Cassie, you're not in the shape to go down the hall yourself and ask. And you are far from being a baby, most people wouldn't even be here if they went through want you went through," he assured her.

"Are you saying that because you're," Cassie began to asked, when Emily walked in. Hotch's faced was in the process of turning bright red, knowing what Cassie was going to refer to him as, her aunt's boyfriend.

"The nurse is paging Dr. Lewis right now," Emily smiled, happy she could do something productive.

"Did you have to threaten them with your gun," Hotch asked innocently, causing Cassie to giggle.

"Hotch, who do you think I am, I would never do that," Emily mocked, not admitting that she had already used that shtick when demanding Cassie be scheduled with the best surgeons available.

Cassie enjoyed watching the two agents go back in forth, in a teasing yet loving way. He could tell that there was something more between them, and decided to press her aunt later on. The three spent the next hour talking, mainly about the times Emily and Hotch had persuaded people to do things for them by flashing their badge.

Eventually Dr. Lewis came in, and assured Cassie that this new medication would allow her to think a bit clearer, but would leave her pain free. As he injected into her IV, she thanked him, already feeling the sweet relief.

"Mind if I speak to your aunt, and agent Hotchner outside a moment," Dr. Lewish asked.

Typically, Cassie would have been offended that he was sharing medical information about her without her being present, but the medicine was beginning to kick in, and she was sleepy. The two agents walked outside the door, out of ear shot of Cassie.

"Is everything okay Doctor," Emily asked anxiously, afraid he was going to lay some kind of bomb down.

He nodded, "I just wanted to commend you for being there for Cassie this whole time. Every time I pass by I either see you, or another family member there in her room."

Emily was a bit confused, until she realized the family he was referring about was the team.

"I know for a fact that if Cassie didn't have the support you were giving her, her tremendous recovery wouldn't be happening right now," he informed them.

Emily looked at Hotch, and then back at the doctor.

"Thank you Dr. Lewis, that means a lot. Anything to get Cassie back on her feet again. Speaking of which, can we schedule a consult tomorrow about her leg surgery? I want to make sure that a plastic surgeon is on hand so that there is no scarring," she informed him. She knew Cassie would be dealing with enough scarring on her face and back, the last thing a young woman wants is her legs mangled by a typical surgeon.

Dr. Lewis nodded, "Of course Ms. Prentiss."

Once again thanking the doctor, Emily and Hotch walked back into the room and found a sleeping Cassie.

"Boy what I would do for some of whatever they gave her," Emily joked, as she admired how peaceful Cassie looked.

"I'm sure that after this is taken care of we can find you something at the bar," he joked.

The two chatted a bit longer, as they finished their cofee, simply enjoying each other's company.

"Well I'm going to head home. I'll see you both tomorrow morning," he said, getting up to leave.

"Hey Hotch," Emily practically yelled, causing the agent to spin around.

"Thank you for being you," she said softly, meaning every word.

Hotch nodded, "anytime Emily," he replied as he walked out.

Emily sat once again in the silence, and replayed their conversation in her head. Did Hotch have a separate agenda other than friendship, she wondered. And if he did, how did she feel about it? Emily had always felt a special connection to Aaron, but recently, she had found herself thinking about him a bit more, and in different ways. Shaking her head, Emily knew that her brain couldn't handle thinking about something like that tonight.

"You love him don't you," called out a soft voice, scaring Emily half to death.

"I thought you were," Emily started.

"I kinda was, but it was more interesting listening to the two of you. And by the way he speaks to you, I would say he's way more than a co-worker," Cassie replied.

Emily shook her head, "I think the meds are getting to your head," Emily mumbled.

Cassie shook her head, "I've been around the block of love a few times," she said, half asleep.

Emily shook her head, "well if you've been around the block, consider me to have gone cross country."

Cassie closed her eyes again, "just wanted to throw it out there."

Before Emily could protest some more, Cassie was asleep once again. "Never, it could never," Emily said to herself as she settled onto the cot next to the bed. Closing her eyes, Emily's last thoughts before falling asleep was 'what if,'.


	18. Chapter 18

Emily shot straight up out of a deep sleep, from the loud moaning coming from the bed beside her.

"Please stop, get back, get back," Cassie cried, as she began to thrash in her bed, her eyes still closed.

Realizing that Cassie was having another night terror, Emily quickly got up, and put her arms around the girl. For some reason physical contact seemed to be the best way to get the girl to calm down, and wake up.

"Cassie it's a nightmare sweetie, it's only me here," Emily said softly, slightly shaking the girl.

"Mom," she whispered, "oh mom you came back," the girl mumbled, still asleep but calmed down.

Emily's heart sank, knowing that her voice must of sounded similar to Lisa's, which triggered Cassie's mind to wander back to her mother. Not wanting the girl's night terrors to continue, Emily just ran her hands through the girls hair.

"It's okay Cassie, you're safe now, no one is going to hurt you," Emily comforted her, wishing she knew what the sleeping girl was envisioning.

Cassie's body began to relax, and once again the steady breathing picked up. Emily's own heart rate began to go back to normal, as she stared at the sleeping girl, confident she was going to remain asleep. Looking at the clock, she was surprised that it was already 9 am, and that they had made it through the night without any incident. She had to admit that sleeping on an actual bed made such a difference in how her body felt.

She knew the team would be meeting up soon in the conference room, and decided to text JJ to let her know when the team arrived at the hospital. Going into the bathroom, Emily looked at herself in the mirror and crinkled her brow. Despite the solid sleep she was able to snag last night, the bags under her eyes were quite noticeable. Upon further inspection, she swore that she found a slight wrinkle near her eye.

"Probably from the events of the last few days," she said to herself as she tied her hair back into a pony tail.

She then wandered to the window to inspect the weather outside, not that it mattered very much. The skies were a bit overcast, and from the look of the wet pavement outside the window, it seemed that it had rained overnight.

Glancing over to Cassie, the older woman realized that the girl hadn't seen daylight for the past four days. She remembered reading somewhere that fresh hair and sunlight were good for patient's physical and mental well being, and decided she would suggest to Cassie on a walk around the ground later on today. Since the next day was her leg surgery, this would be the only day to take in some nature until her leg recovered from the operation, which was undeterminable at this point.

Not knowing what else to do, Emily straightened up the room, and folded up the cot for visiting doctors and the agents. Eventually her phone began buzzing, which was JJ texting her that they were entering the building now. Not wanting to wake the sleeping girl, Emily stepped out the room to meet the agents in their makeshift conference room.

A half hour later, the team sat around the table, listening to Hotch deliver the plan of action.

"So things we know: Montle is in the DC/Maryland area, but he is not in the hotel room Jacobs had told us previously. Morgan, Rossi and I are going to go out to Jacob's parents house in Maryland, where there is a slight chance the unsub is operating at," Hotch explained.

"Reid, I need you to work with Garcia on collecting surveillance on Lisa Prentiss prior to her attack, to see if we can get any footage on tape to hold up on court. JJ, I need you to call the Santa Barbara prison to see if there are any mob informers living there, and to see if any of them would possibly be willing to rat him out," Hotch continued.

"The hardest part isn't going to be catching Montle, because he's going to play it cool as a cucumber," Rossi mentioned.

"It's going to be gathering enough evidence on him," Reid answered, knowing that it was going to take a hell of a lot of evidence and witnesses to bring Montle down.

"What should I do if there are informants in the prison," JJ asked Hotch.

"Well if that panes out, we'll send some of the team out to interview and investigate. The main goal right now is track this son of a bitch," Hotch affirmed, his voice thick with determination.

"I'll get Garcia to send the address to my PDA," Morgan said, stepping out of the conference room.

Emily sat still as the rest of her team began to buzz rapidly, doing the jobs they were trained to do.

"What do you want me to work on," she asked Hotch, not understanding why he didn't involve her in his task list.

"Prentiss we have this covered right now, you know that the best place for you is with Cassie. If anything, try to get her talking about Montle, and any associates he might have had," Hotch said.

He didn't want to make her feel incompetent or a victim, but he knew that she needed to be around for Cassie's surgical conference, and that she may be the best one to jog some of Cassie's memories.

"You know I can do more than that," she gritted through her teeth, annoyed that she wasn't the one sent to bang down doors to find this monster.

"I know you can, but this assignment is what your strengths are in the case. Take out the whole family relation thing. You know the victim best, and can feel her out to guide her in questioning. You will be effective at that," he explained, trying to sound more professional than sympathetic.

Emily through up her hands, knowing that the man was making a valid point.

"You're right, it's logical," she reluctantly agreed.

Hotch nodded, relieved that she wasn't going to argue the point any further.

Walking back to the room, Emily tried to reassure herself that the team knew what they were doing, and that Hotch was right about her assignment. Her place was with Cassie, and using her profiling skills to get more crucial information out of her. But unlike the hundreds of other victims, this was personal, so very personal. But that didn't matter, Emily reminded herself, she still had to squeeze as much information out of Cassie as possible. It will be for her own good in the long run, Emily thought.

Upon entering the hospital room, Emily was greeted to an awake Cassie getting checked on by a nurse. The girl pressed her lips together as she allowed the nurse to rewrap her bandages, insert a new IV, and check her blood pressure.

"I see that you've received your morning wake up call," Emily joked.

"Oh yea, the best kind a girl could ask for," Cassie grumbled, looking in the opposite direction of the nurse who was now putting some sort of pic into her arm.

"It's hard to think something so painful is actually helping you," Emily commented, noticing the wincing on Cassie's face.

"I feel like a pin cushion," Cassie grumbled. Eventually the nurse finished her poking and prodding, and left the room.

"I hate people touching me," Cassie complained, annoyed that the nurse woke her up out of a sound sleep.

"Agreed, especially when their doing so to inflict pain," Emily sympathized.

Cassie shifted in the bed, and ran her hands over her face.

"Ugh I need to get washed up, I feel sweaty and gross," she commented.

"You were having nightmares again before you woke up," Emily admitted, not knowing if the girl remembered.

Cassie shifted her gaze downwards, looking embarrassed.

"Did I make a lot of noise," she asked quietly.

Emily felt horrible for bringing it up, but felt that it may be a warning sign of physiology trauma.

"You were calling out for someone to stop hurting you," she explained, purposely leaving out the cries Cassie gave for her mother.

"I'm sorry," Cassie said, embarrassed she bothered Emily with her nightmares.

"Don't be sorry honey, it's perfectly normal. I just feel horrible that you're going through them. But they will pass, eventually," Emily assured her.

"Hey, why don't I help you into your wheelchair, and we can take a walk around the must be going stir crazy in here," Emily suggested.

Cassie looked around, she was getting sick of being in the same four walls.

"People are going to stare at me," she worried.

Cassie had yet to see the bruising and swelling to her face, and did not want to see it. Gaging from people's reactions, she knew it was bad, and the last thing she wanted to do was have a bunch of strangers pity her.

"They're not going to stare, and besides it looks a lot better than it it. I can put some makeup over if you want, and you don't have to look at it if you don't want to," Emily offered.

Cassie played with the corner of her sheets, thinking about the idea.

"Okay, but you need to cover the mirror first before we go into the bathroom," Cassie said, pointing to the towel over the door.

Emily nodded, went to the bathroom, and covered the mirror. Grabbing the wheel chair, Emily pushed it over to the side of the bed, so she could help Cassie get into it.

"Um, yesterday the orderly just kind of picked me up and placed me in," Cassie said, embarrassed at the situation.

"Okay, just let me know if I'm hurting you," Emily said, trying to control the shaking in her hands.

Cassie was as fragile as a glass doll, and the last thing Emily wanted to do was inflict more pain on the girl. Putting one arm under her legs, and one under her lower back, Emily lifted Cassie carefully and placed her in the upright position of the chair.

"That wasn't so bad," Cassie smiled, noticing the panic stricken look her her aunt's face.

Emily nodded, "one hurdle out of the way today."

Pushing Cassie to the bathroom, Emily was impressed by how mobile the girl was with one hand, and how she was able maneuver herself to get read for the day. They only thing Cassie had trouble with was putting her hair up into a ponytail.

"Here let me do that so you don't pull a muscle," Emily offered after Cassie's three attempts.

Reluctantly, Cassie handed her aunt the hair tie. Running her fingers through Cassie's hair made Emily remember the days of when she used to take turns with Lisa playing hair dresser. They had spent hours trying new styles, dumping product after product into their hair, and dying it all sorts of colors. After pulling it up into a high ponytail, Emily rummaged through her makeup bag. "

Thankfully we're the same complexion," Emily mentioned, whipping out some cover up. Cassie sat there silently as Emily went to work applying coverup to her swollen cheek bones, and bruises. Every time Cassie flinched, Emily sprang into apologies, only to be stopped by Cassie.

"Keep going Emily," she bravely said, knowing that the physical pain would be nothing compared to the mental pain of people staring.

Continuing while admiring Cassie's bravery, Emily complete the look by adding a bit of blush, some mascara and a touch of lip gloss. The older woman had to admit the make up had done a world of good to mask the physical scars on the girl.

"You look gorgeous, I bet these doctors are gonna be all over you," Emily smiled, causing Cassie to blush.

"Yea, I am the catch of the week, 22, college drop out and more baggage than Southwest airlines," she said sarcastically.

Emily shook her head, "we'll just see, now let's bust this joint." Emily pushed the wheelchair out of the room to start their mini adventure.


	19. Chapter 19

Hotch tapped anxiously on the door in the passenger's side of SUV. Letting Morgan drive was a bad idea, because it meant he had more energy to expand on thinking, and his brain already had done enough of this. Reid was in the backseat going over some research they had pulled up on their destination, the Jacobs residence. Apparently when Jacob's parents had died, he had inherited the house, and they had a good feeling Montle was camping out there.

"Do you think he's going to resist when we get there," Reid asked the other agents, with a wave of concern in his voice. He knew this man had a huge ego, and would try to play coy with the detectives.

"The balls really up in the air at this point," Morgan said, focusing on the stretch of road in front of him.

"He's going to try to charm us, and convince us that it was all a misunderstanding," Hotch grumbled, knowing the type all too well.

"Are we going to bring him back to Quantico to question him," Reid gulped, realizing that if so he would be sharing the back seat with the man who allegedly killed Emily's sister.

"There will be a team on hand for back up support, and we'll use their car to transport him," Hotch assured him, noticing the lanky agent's pale face.

"In order for this to all tie in, we need to be able to convince people to talk from California, who knew that he was planning a hit on Lisa, and Cassie," Morgan pointed out.

"That's why we left JJ and Rossi back at the office to try to round up a list of cons who worked for him. Ones who have nothing to loose at this point," Hotch said.

In every case, Hotch tried his best to bring justice to all of the victims and their families. However this time around, the case was personal so much to a point that he could feel the pain. Every time he looked at Emily he felt the stabbing pain of loss, similar to when he spoke to Cassie. This man needed to not only be off the streets, but locked in a cage to pay for what he did. Although no matter what sentence he received, it would never bring Lisa back, or undo Cassie's injuries, emotionally.

"What are we going to do if we have to go to Sherman Oakes," Reid asked.

"We're going to do what we always do Reid, board the plan and pay them a visit" Hotch said sharply, perhaps sharper than he attended.

"Would we all go," Reid continued, oblivious to the subtle annoyance in Aaron's voice.

"Reid we'll figure it out when the time comes, we don't even know if Montle is going to be here," Morgan interjected, feeling the tension building inside the car. Hotch shot Morgan an appreciative look, while Reid stared out the window.

"According to Garcia's directions, we're about five minutes away," Morgan said, making a turn into a neighborhood development. Hotch nodded and picked up his cell phone to alert the local police.


	20. Chapter 20

JJ rested her head on the portion of desk she hijacked in Garcia's office. The media liaison wanted to bang her head against the hard desk, because that's the best way to demonstrate how she felt. Consistently running into brick walls.

For the last two hours, she had been calling California prisons to obtain a list of prisoners who were brought in on mob connections, or had any relation to Montle. She had learned that prison officials aren't the most cooperative over the phone, and that she couldn't speak to any of prisoners who had active lawyers until it was approved. With an hourglass over her head, JJ knew things had to change, fast.

"Oh cheer up gum-drop, you've left about a dozen voicemails to these scumbags lawyers," Garcia quipped.

"It still leaves me in the same place I was two hours ago," she grumbled, not lifting her head up from the table.

"Well lets see if we can change it with this new piece of information," Garcia began banging on buttons on her keyboard. "Apparently there was a huge drug bust 5 months ago in the same area where Montle runs his mob. 10 men were arrested, and about 7 of them had been brought in previous times, so they are facing some serious time," she read off the screen.

JJ lifted her head, knowing that was good news for her.

"So because they're facing some heavy time, they'd be more willing to give up details," JJ said.

"Exactly, apparently one of the men, Harrison, is facing life without parole,"Garcia said.

"I think we just found our first lead. Your a genius PG" JJ said, giving the analyst a quick squeeze.

"They don't pay be the big bucks for nothing," she smiled, happy to be able to bring something to the table.

Rossi sat alone in the bullpen, feeling a tad lonely. It was rare he didn't go out in the field, but he knew that someone had to go through these evidence logs. Reid needed to be on the scene incase they had to figure out a new profile, and ego centric manipulators were his specialty. Morgan was a good fit to send because of his fierce demeanor.

And Hotch, well from the looks of the supervisory agent this morning, the man was going to strangle this monster himself. Rossi sighed as his mind began to turn towards the complicated workings of his co-worker and friend. It was evident Aaron was in love with Emily, by the way he looked at her. He had always issued a paternal concern for his team, but with Emily it was a tad different, because a paternal love wouldn't involve staring at her behind as she walked around the office.

And Rossi knew Emily was just as tough, basically trying to push away all connections unless she was 100 percent certain. It was hard enough to get her to feel apart of this team, but for her to take the risk of being involved romantically with Aaron and the fear of being rejected? Well Rossi didn't have to be a profiler to know that had to be terrifying.

Going back to files, he read the gruesome facts of what was found the night Lisa Prentiss was murdered. His stomach churned as he read about the broken door handle, the bloody handprints smeared on the walls, and the stab marks on the floor by where Lisa's body was found. He hoped that he would be able to conceal these details from Emily, but he knew that Cassie knew all of the details vividly.

When he reached page 20 of the paperwork, he was surprised at what he read. According to the paperwork, the evidence was stored away into a locker after being run once into the system. Since there was no leads, the investigation of Lisa's murder was basically halted.

"This isn't how a murder investigation works," Rossi muttered to himself out loud.

Someone covered this up, he thought to himself, knowing that the key to putting Montle away was rotting in a hot locker somewhere in California. Picking up the phone, he called the one person who could get him the information he needed.

"The all knowing Garcia at your service," the voice rang out on the other line of the phone.

"Garcia I need to find out who stored Lisa's evidence, and who was the dirty cop who attempted to blow this under the rug," Rossi said, knowing he was about to open Pandora's box.


	21. Chapter 21

Cassie squinted as her eyes adjusted to the sunlight. It felt as if she was nursing the worst hangover of her life. Noticing the girl's rapid blinking, Emily fished out a pair of oversized black sunglasses out of her purse.

"I should of given you these earlier," she said handing Cassie the specs.

Slipping them on, Cassie felt a bit better, not only because the sun was at bay, but because it acted as another barrier to the outside. She stared at her lap the entire time Emily pushed her through the hospital hallways, not saying a word. Emily pushed the chair as fast as she could, not wanting to put Cassie through any awkwardness. It was already bad enough they had a cop walking twenty feet behind them to aid in security.

"How does it feel to have the fresh air in your lungs," Emily asked as she took a seat on the bench next to the wheel chair.

"Better than inhaling that stuffy air I guess," Cassie admitted, still looking down at her lap.

Emily knew that being outside of the hospital room made the situation much more real.

"It's a big step going outside, especially in your condition. You're braver than I ever could be," Emily told her, meaning every word.

Cassie looked startled, "what do you mean, because I was able to be dressed, propped up in a chair and pushed outside."

Emily shook her head, "that you even let someone do that for you, and that you were willing to."

Cassie shrugged, "I couldn't take another rerun of Friends."

Emily smiled, "I'll pick you up some reading material next time I run home." Cassie nodded, happy to know she'd have something to fill her days other than tv.

"You're brave too you know," Cassie said after a bit of quietness.

It was now Emily's turn appear puzzled, "what did I do."

Cassie continued to look down, while playing with the string of her hoodie.

"You're a BAU agent I mean you capture killers all the time. And your staying with me even though someone is out to kill me," she said softly.

Emily's heart melted, and all she wanted to do was to tell the girl all of her fears.

"Cassie trust me I'm afraid of a lot of things, and this situation is by far the most terrifying. But I will not let you go through this alone, because things aren't as scary when theres someone going through it with you," Emily answered, hoping she wasn't too sappy.

Cassie shook her head, "I've spent the last few months pushing everyone away so they wouldn't have to go through it with me. Before the doctor called you on Friday, your life was fine. Then I dragged you into my mess, my life," Cassie's voice trembled, as tears began running down her face.

Emily sat there with her mouth open, almost overwhelmed with the amount of pain in Cassie's voice.

"You're not going to be able to push me anywhere, I'm like a boulder that won't move," she said.

"And you didn't drag me into anything Cassie, I made a conscience decision to stay with you, because I wanted to. You are an adult and didn't need a legal guardian, so I could of just walked out, but then I would be missing the chance to gain a beautiful person in my life. Someone who I need more than she needs me," Emily continued, surprised at the wavering in her own voice.

Cassie was touched by her aunt's words, but could not understand how she could be of any benefit to her aunt's life.

"One day it will feel better, right" Cassie whispered.

Emily nodded, "one day you'll be able to wake up in the morning without wanting to burst into tears. I don't know when that day will be Cassie, but it will come for us, eventually."


	22. Chapter 22

"How did this just get shoved under the rug" JJ asked out loud as she was flipping through the evidence report Rossi had handed her.

She didn't know what was worse about the whole thing – the gruesome details of Lisa's murder, or the blatant fact that know one gave a shit about this case.

"This is why people don't trust the system," Rossi grumbled. He had left several messages with members of the Sherman Oakes Police department, but so far none of them had called him back.

"How was Montle not even interviewed after the murder. Lisa had a freakin restraining order for him," JJ said still trying to wrap her mind around the information.

"We're going to have to go out there to rescan that evidence you know," Rossi pointed out, knowing it was not wise to trust a seemingly corrupt team to transport crucial materials.

JJ nodded, even though she wasn't that crazy about flying all the way out there. Sure she was used to traveling without a moment's notice, but things were complicated this time. Emily would be torn about going with them, and leaving Cassie. And although Emily was self-sufficient, who would make sure Emily was staying a float.

"Detective Burrow was on the case initially, but was pulled off within the first 48 hours. It was then assigned to Detective Tills, who closed the cased just a mere three weeks later," JJ read.

"So instead of contacting Tills, we should try to go after Burrow," Rossi said, realizing the strategy behind that.

"I think Burrow would have plenty to say since in his initial report he noted that it seemed like a premeditated attack," JJ answered, knowing that this could be their key into unlocking something big.

Picking up the phone once again, Rossi dialed the same number he had used several times this afternoon. This time he asked for a Burrows, and was successfully transferred through. After an introduction, Rossi went into detail how the team was investigating a case tied to Lisa's murder.

"I knew that it wasn't a random act," Burrow said in low tone, barely audible over the phone.

"Based on these police reports, someone didn't do all of their homework," Rossi said cooly.

"I was ripped off the case for no reason, so that was out of my hands. It was a hot case, and then when Tills took over it went ice cold. They tried to chalk it up as random, but I was at the crime scene, there was nothing random about that," Burrows continued.

"We are in the process of obtaining custody over the evidence found at the crime scene, because based on our reports it was only processed once. No other suspects were even taken into consideration," Rossi informed the officer.

"Good luck with that, somehow the evidence ended up in the storage locker 2 hours out from here in the middle of no mans land. The only way to get it is to come out here yourself," Burrow said.

"Well we plan on coming out to not only get the evidence, but to speak with some of the men attached to Montle," Rossi replied.

"I've been trying to bring that bastard down for two decades now, his men are like loyal rats. Listen, when you come out here why don't we meet. I'd be happy to help you close this case. That woman was too young to die, especially with that kid of hers so young," Burrow said with sadness in your voice.

"We'd appreciate any help we can get. I'll be in touch with the exact time my team will be in Sherman Oakes," Rossi said, wrapping up the conversation. Rossi felt a bit of relief creep into his shoulders, now that he knew there would be someone to help them navigate through the maze of Sherman Oaks homicide unit.

JJ was now across in her office, talking on the phone with someone. Her head kept nodding up and down as she wrote down information on a notepad. Judging by the expression on her face, Rossi knew that her leads were finally communicating with her, giving her a chance to talk their lawyers into encouraging the cons to talk. With his phone call with Burrows, and the convicts willing to make a deal to talk, Rossi knew that their trip to California would be within the next 48 hours, if not sooner.


	23. Chapter 23

Hotch stood outside the old victorian house, relieved that the conformation with Montle went surprisingly smooth. Just as they had profiled, Montle was a charming as a southern gentleman, offering to cooperate.

"Oh my Cassie is hurt," he said innocently, placing a shocked look on his face.

As Morgan explained how there was a perp who pinned him or ordering the attack, Montle shook his head admittedly.

"Jacobs is a delusional man who is going through a rough time. He probably blamed on me because I've been an acting influence in his life lately, hence me staying here to help him cope with the lost of his parents," Montle reasoned.

For every ounce of evidence or information the agents provided, an excuse explained it from Montle's lips. When asked if he would come down for questioning, Montle didn't object. The only time he seemed a bit displeased was when he was informed he could not take his own car.

"Can I see Cassie, she was like a daughter to me," he asked in a tone that sent chills up Hotch's spine.

Not wanting to overreacted, Hotch simply shook his head, letting Morgan verbally answer. There was no way in hell he was going to let this guy get near any Prentiss woman again. As Montle was being ushered to the police car for transport, he decided it would be best to give Emily a call to inform her.

"Prentiss," the voice on the other line rang out.

"Hey it's me, we were able to track down Montle," Hotch told her.

"Did he put up a fight or try to flee," she asked with a heighten amount of nervousness in her voice.

"Just the opposite, he offered us lemonade and tried to play the compassionate caregiver to his mentally ill friend Jacobs," Hotch said bitterly.

"Figures, egotistical maniac," she mumbled.

"He asked to see Cassie," he said in a soft voice, afraid how the agent was going to react.

Emily was silent for a moment. "Please tell me you told him that you would kill him if he ever attempted," she finally said.

"We made it quite clear that was never going to happen," he assured her.

"Call me when you guys get back to the station, I want to join in during the interrogation," she said.

"Prentiss you know that we can handle this," he tried to explain.

"Hotch don't even go there again, I'm really not in the mood to patronized," she said sharply.

Sighing, Hotch knew that she wasn't intentionally trying to be cold to him, but it still hurt. "Okay we'll call you when you get back. How's everything at the hospital," he asked.

"Um good, Cassie's surgery is going to be tomorrow morning, and they're going to put several pins in her right leg," Emily informed him.

"Ouch, well its for the best in the long run. We're getting ready to pull out now, so I'll be in touch," he said, hanging up the phone. Heading over to the car, his stomach began to churn. The easy part was getting Montle in their custody, the hard part is going to be to crack him.

"That man creeps me out more than any other unsub we've dealt with," Morgan admitted as they pulled out of the driveway.

"His ability to show concern was eerie, but it isn't common in psychopaths," Reid pointed out.

"He offered us lemonade, what other unsub has ever welcomed us inside their home like that," Morgan wondered, shaken the who situation.

"We've dealt with types like him, and we all know that there is a break point at some point. This is how he was able to charm Lisa, and become close to her," Hotch explained.

Hotch could picture the fake act the man must of laid on Lisa, and how she was probably wooed easily. A man with wealth, power and charm paying attention to a single, uneducated mother was rare, and when he wasn't a horrible man it must have been nice. He knew that they were going to have question Cassie further about her time with Montle, and her observations of her mother's relationship with him.

"I just got an email from JJ, apparently her and Rossi were able to convince some ex-workers of Montle to speak with us," Reid said as he read the email on his phone.

"That should give us a better picture of the Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde," Morgan mused.

"Hopefully we can squeeze some information out of them. As soon as we get back we'll get things ready to ship out to Sherman Oakes tomorrow morning," Hotch said.

"But what about Montle, we won't be able to hold him for than 24 hours,' Reid said, knowing that wouldn't be enough time to do everything they needed to do in order to nail the unsub.

Hotch knew that all ready, and he hadn't really had a game plan just yet. The only logical way was to split the team up for the mean time, and try to get Garcia to pin Montle on something minor like an overdue parking ticket to keep him in custody.

"After we regroup with Rossi and JJ we'll decide how to divide the team to make sure we take this guy down as efficiently as possible," Hotch replied.

Reid nodded, because that was the only thing to do at the moment. He took this time to relax his mind by starting out the window to admire the scenery, because he knew the minute they got back to Quanitco there wouldn't be time to think of anything but Montle.


	24. Chapter 24

Garcia clutched the awkward basket with her right hand, as she tried to navigate through the hallways of the hospital. She didn't understand what idiot designer would make every hallway in a huge infrastructure identical. It reminded of of a lab mouse in a maze, wandering aimlessly for a block of cheese.

In this case, her block of cheese was Cassie Prentiss's hospital room. Garcia was concern of how her favorite brunette agent was holding up, especially with her sister's apparent killer heading back to the area. From what Morgan told her, this Montle character was the biggest creep of all the creeps in the land. And she also wanted to meet the girl who was apparently the clone of Emily, according to the rest of the team. Reid had told her how similar Cassie was to Emily, not only from her physical features but in her personality. If she didn't know her baby genius better, she would say the doctor was a tad smitten with Pretniss junior.

Garcia sighed with relief when she spotted an armed guard outside the hospital room at the end of corridor. She knew that it had to be the room in question, because most patients do not get FBI security detail when their on the mend. Knocking lightly on the door, she was greeted by the familiar face of her friend.

"Garcia is everything okay," Emily asked, looking past her to see who else was there.

"Everything's fine Em, I just wanted to stop by and visit. And I figured Cassie might need some cheering up, with her surgery coming up tomorrow," Garcia assured her.

Emily's worried expression melted away to a wide smile.

"Always thinking of everyone PG," the agent smiled, motioning the analyst to enter the room.

A lump in Garcia's throat formed the minute she laid eyes on Cassie, for a variety a reasons. She had seen the damage on the crime scene photos, but seeing it in the flesh added insult to injury. And seeing extensive injuries on a face that doubled as her co-workers also added a bit of shock.

"You could tell your a Prentiss a mile a way," Garcia blurted out, not being able to hide her surprise.

Cassie wiggled to sit a bit, and smiled, "that's what I've been told."

"Cassie, this is Penelope Garcia, the technical analyst of the team, and also one of my best friends," Emily introduced.

"Aka tech goddess extraordinaire," Garcia smiled, extending her hand out to Cassie.

Cassie found the woman refreshing, and appreciated the fact that someone on her aunt's team incorporated color in their wardrobe.

"Thank you for all you've been doing to help find who did this," Cassie said.

"Oh sweetie it's what we do, and besides you're family," Garcia said waving her hand.

"Oh and this is for you, I bet that this place gets pretty lame," Garcia handed the girl the gift basket.

Emily couldn't help but smile as she watched Cassie's face lit up as she went through the basket. Once again, the lovable tech goddess went over and beyond, packing the basket full of home baked cookies, a dozen magazine, Sudoku puzzles, a fuzzy teddy bear and a few novels.

"Oh my God, this is all for me," Cassie exclaimed shocked that this woman who she never met before gave her a basket costing a pretty penny.

"Well you are the only person I know who is stuck inside this place," Garcia smiled.

"Garcia thank you, really you didn't have to do that," Emily said, stammering to thank her friend.

It was truly touching to see how much her team had come to Cassie's aid, and cared for her. Emily knew that the BAU always refereed to themselves as a family, but the last few days had proven that in tenfolds.

"It's the least I could do," Garcia said.

"So what have you two been up to today," Garcia asked.

Cassie shrugged, "more doctors, more poking."

Emily nodded in agreement. After their hour outside, the rest of the day was spent meeting with the surgeon for tomorrow, going through the procedure, and getting a plastic surgeon's opinion on how to deal with the scaring the best way.

"We did go outside for a bit, before it rained," Emily added.

"Yea JJ got drenched on her way back from lunch," Garcia chuckled.

"Speaking of JJ, how is everything going in the office," Emily asked, curious to see if there were any more developments.

"Well JJ and Rossi made arrangements to speak to the original detectives, and some other contacts inside the big house. The rest of team should be back in Quantico soon," Garcia said, trying not to say too much in front of Cassie.

"Did they find Montle," Cassie asked, unaware of what occurred earlier that day.

Emily pinched the bridge of her nose, knowing that she was going to have answer the question. When Hotch had called earlier, Cassie was asleep and Emily decide not to tell her because it would only be added stress. Garcia shot the elder Prentiss a confused look, but knew not to be the one that answered the question.

"Aaron, Morgan and Reid found Montle at Jacob's parents house. They're bringing him in for questioning," Emily explained.

Cassie's face turned paler than usual, but her eyes remained on Emily.

"They're going to prove that he was the one who ordered the attack," Cassie asked.

Emily nodded, "and we're also going to revisit Lisa's case to see if there's a connection." Cassie began to grip the white sheet with her good hand, her knuckles turning red.

"So you think that he killed her, and now he's after me," she said bitterly.

Emily once again nodded, alarmed at the increasing anger building up in Cassie.

"We think that the detectives didn't process the evidence properly, so the team is going to open the case up," Emily continued.

Cassie could feel the blood rushing through her body, filling with a sense of rage.

"That son of a bitch killed my mother and the cops didn't' do anything about it," Cassie basically shouted.

"Apparently someone in the department was dirty we believe," Garcia added.

Sitting there, Cassie couldn't believe what she was hearing. Right after the murder, the detectives assured Cassie that they were going to bring justice to her mother. But after a week or two, the cops stopped contacting her, and continued to usher her out of the station when she would stop in to check on the progress of the investigation.

She remembered the day Detective Tills sat her down, and told her that there were no warm leads, and that they were going to call her if they had anything. At that moment, Cassie knew the police department wasn't going to be the ones that brought justice to her mother, which is when she knew it was time to find Emily.

"Cassie it's okay to be angry, but I promise you we're not going to let this go," Garcia said, reaching for Cassie's hands.

"I swear we will nail Montle, Jacobs, and the dirty cop who covered this up," Emily confirmed, the anger of the situation loud and clear in her voice.

Emily's phone began to ring, causing all three women to jump.

"We're back with Montle," Hotch said on the other line.

"I'll be there in twenty," Emily said crisply.

"We have the covered-" Hotch began to see until he was cut off.

"I want to be the one that breaks him," she said, looking over at Cassie.

"By the tone in your voice I'm guessing the unsub has landed," Garcia said as she watched Emily pick up her jacket from the chair.

"Yea, and I'm going to head over there for the integration," Emily said.

"I want to come with you," Cassie said as she tried to position herself more upright.

Emily shook her head, "no you're getting major surgery tomorrow, and there is no way this maniac is getting anywhere near you."

Cassie folded her arms to her chest, knowing there was no room to argue.

"Do you mind staying here till I get back Garcia," Emily asked, trying not to pay attention to the scowl on her niece's face.

Garcia smiled, "of course, anything to get out of the office."

Cassie watched as Emily dashed out the room. She wanted be the one to face Montle, but if she had to send anyone else to obtain revenge, Emily was the person.


	25. Chapter 25

*Hi faithful readers! I just wanted to put a side note that I've entered a contest for Reader's Digest. If you could take the time to click this link and vote for my entry, it would be greatly appreciated! Happy reading :)

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JJ's eyes scanned the room as if she was following a ping-pong tournament. For the last hour Hotch and Emily were grilling Montle. Going over this history, his relationship with Jacobs, and Lisa. JJ had to admit it was priceless to watch Montle's facial expression when he laid eyes on Emily for the first time. He looked as if he was standing in the presence of a ghost, even though they all knew he had heard of Emily before, surely from Lisa. Before going into the integration, the team had decided to have Emily act as emotionless as possible about her sister, basically brushing it off as if she hated her.

"If he senses the hurt in your voice, he's going to run with it like wildfire," Reid explained to Emily, who was taken back.

"Do you not understand that I want to tear this man to shreds," Emily shot back.

"Believe me we do, but nailing Montle cannot be seen as an act of vengeance," Hotch explained, even though he knew that it was exactly that.

"So I have to go in there, pretend I'm only doing this because of some kid we found beaten and raped," Emily said slowly, as if she was in the process of switching over mind frames.

JJ involuntary winced at the icy tone now being integrated into Emily's voice.

"I know this hard Princess, but if anyone can lay this down thick you can," Morgan assured her.

"I'll just state the obvious truth, my sister and I have been estranged for two decades after she left. Why would I give a damn about someone who wanted nothing to do with me? She was already dead to me years ago," Emily said in a monotone fashion.

The inside of Emily began to tremble after listening to the words that came out of her mouth. That was not even remotely true, but if this was what needed to be done to get through this integration without feeding into this maniac's ego, then so be it.

"And he's going to mention Cassie, Emily," Rossi said, hoping that she would be able to muster the act for the girl whom she had taken in as her own. Emily shifted her eyes over to Rossi, who noticed the fiery protective look gone from her eyes.

"That girl is just another one of the hundreds of victims I see every month, nothing special about her. I wouldn't give her a second thought if her case didn't get assigned to my department. And after this is done, she can go back to wherever she came. Her dead mother isn't my problem, blood relation or no blood relation," Emily replied, her word sharper than ever.

JJ's heart literally began to hurt after hearing Emily speak so coldly of Cassie, and had to remind herself this was all an act.

"I never doubted your ability to put on a show Prentiss," Hotch noted, impressed on how fast Prentiss could change her demeanor.

"I just hope this works, the chance that this creep can be let loose soon is absurd," the brunette said as she played with her necklace out of nervousness.

Now watching the integration, JJ knew Montle had bought her not giving a damn shtick. However, for every question the agents asked, he had a fully formulated answer ready.

"It's like he came up with answers incase this ever came up," Reid pointed out, as he watched the integration beside JJ.

"Which makes it even more obvious that he did it," JJ said.

"The only thing we're going to be able to catch Montle on is testimony from his ex-workers. We throw that in his face, and show him that his loyal men actually turned on him. The idea of him losing that power over those con men will drive him nuts, showing his true colors," Reid explained.

Morgan bursted in to observation room where the other two agents were sitting.

"We have exactly 72 hours to get the evidence we need to pin Montle on ordering the hit on Cassie," the agent said out of breathe.

"How did we get the ability to keep him in custody for that long," JJ said, stunned at the recent events.

"Garcia had found that Montle had been questioned in three other hits over the last five years, which gives reason that he could be connected to this one, even though he was never tried on any of them. I faxed the report to Judge Yule, the one whom we helped with the Tippton case, and she granted us legal observation rights due to prior history," he explained.

"That means we have to get out there tonight, no waiting around till tomorrow morning," JJ said, now banging on the two way window to get Emily and Hotch's attention.

"What's going on," Hotch said, annoyed that they were pulled out in the middle of an intense line of questioning.

Morgan explained the situation about the 72 holding on Montle.

"This is what we need, because the only way to crack this guy is catch him in his lie and have him experience loss of power," Emily said, still staring at Montle through the two way window.

"JJ please rearrange the flight information so that we leave tonight. Before we go to California, we have to speak with Cassie to get some more insight on her relationship with Montle," Hotch said, knowing that Emily hadn't even broached the subject with her niece.

"But Cassie has major surgery tomorrow, how am I going to go to California," Emily asked.

"Your not, the rest of the team can cover the 72 hours without you. We need you here incase Montle decides to pull any stunts," Hotch said, fibbing the reason why he wasn't letting the agent go with them.

Emily knew exactly what Aaron Hotchner was doing, and although she didn't like it, she wasn't going to protest. She knew that there was no way she could abandoned Cassie after surgery, and leave her alone while the whole BAU was across the country. If Montle got word of that, she was as good as dead.

"Fine, now what are going to do with Montle till then," Emily asked, ignoring the surprised looks from the team.

"I'd love to have the honors of telling our guest about his extended stay," Morgan smiled.

Hotch nodded, causing Morgan to nearly run out of the room with excitement. The team watched silently as Morgan entered the questioning room, and began to explain to Montle the situation. As if someone had pressed a button, Montle's face began to become a bright red color.

"This is insane, what kind of ass backwards establishment are you running," he began to yell, breaking his calm appearance.

"We're not an establishment sir, we're the United States government," Morgan grinned, knowing this was just the tip of the iceberg of Montle's unraveling.

Back in the bullpen, Emily caught up on emails she had ignored throughout the last few days. One of them had been one from her mother, sending her a quick message about her latest travels to Paraguay.

Another situation that's going to have to wait, Emily thought as she deleted the email. She knew that the ambassador was going to have to find out eventually, and sooner rather than later. If her mother found out about the situation before Emil had a chance to tell her personally, it would be quite unpleasant for everyone involved

. "Ready to go," JJ asked with her car keys in hand. Emily nodded, knowing it was time for the team to head back over to the hospital to question Cassie before they left for California tonight.

"Yea, I just hope it's a good time. I don't want her to feel like it's an ambush," Emily admitted, gathering up her things. JJ nodded sympathetically, knowing why Emily had worries. It's intimidating being questioned by a team of trained FBI agents, especially being in her vulnerable state.

"She already has spent time with most of us, and she wants to be involved in helping to nail this guy. Besides if it gets to intense we'll take a break, and start again," JJ assured her.

Emily agreed and reminded herself that this was just another necessary part in the case. Heading out to the car, she texted Garcia to let her know the team was heading her way.


	26. Chapter 26

"How did you learn how to play poker so well, you're barely legal," Garcia huffed, falling back in her chair. Cassie grinned as she pushed her winnings of M&Ms towards her.

For the past hour, the new found friends spent playing poker, using the goodies in Cassie's basket as betting pieces.

"I've been playing Poker since the fourth grade when Danny Miller taught me during recess," the younger woman laughed, popping candy into her mouth.

"So that's the trouble with today's youth? They spend more time playing poker than spending time in the fresh air," Garcia asked, placing more candy on the table.

Cassie pursed her lips into a smirk and shook her head, "trust me I spent many hours running around the neighborhood playing kickball, riding bikes, playing cops and robbers."

Garcia chuckled, "so you wanted to be in law enforcement even as a kid, I mean cops and robbers and all."

Cassie nodded, "while other girls wanted to be actresses or teachers, I was the one flashing my plastic badge my mom got me."

The sadness in Cassie's voice was evident, and familiar to Garcia all at the same time.

"My mom was like that with me about my love of computers. When the first Apple came out, she pawn some of her jewelry to buy me one," Garcia shared.

"She sounds like a lovely woman," Cassie said.

Garcia looked down at her feet and kicked a piece of stray paper on the floor. "She was, so was my father. I lost them when I was 19 years old, and miss them everyday," Garcia admitted, slowly forcing her gaze to return to Cassie.

The girl in the bed was shocked to hear that the upbeat, perky woman had such a sad past so similar to hers. "I'm sorry to hear that," Cassie finally said after a few seconds of silence.

"I didn't mean to damper the mood kiddo, I just wanted to let you know that it's okay to remember. It's been almost 20 years since I lost them, but not a day goes by without me thinking about them," Garcia said.

It was the first time since losing her mother that Cassie had spoken to someone that she felt had some idea of what she was going through. So many people had said they were there for her, and that they were sorry for her lost. But they went home to their families, their mother and fathers—thanking their lucky stars they weren't Cassie Prentiss.

"How did you manage to move on, and care again," Cassie asked the older woman finally.

"It wasn't easy, the first two years after their death I went off the deep end. I'm an only child, so for me it felt like my entire family was wiped out, gone," Garcia said, struggling to keep her voice steady.

"But then I looked at my life and realized this wasn't the girl my parents spent 19 years raising. They would have been so upset if I wasted my potential just because they weren't physically in my life anymore."

Cassie nodded, appreciating the sincere tone in Garcia's voice. "All I want to do is kill the bastard who took her away from me, but then what do I do. I have no plan. I dropped out of college, and now I'm battered goods, I'll never get to be an agent," Cassie blurted out.

"My dear you're only 21, you haven't even begun to live yet. And trust me, if the FBI took me after my seedy history in hacking and other non-pg things you'll be a fine fit. Besides, you have a good character, risking your own life to bring justice to light," Garcia said, reaching for the girl's hand.

"And you have Emily now, and she can help you through the red tape of going back to school, and getting into the agency," the blonde pointed out.

Cassie sighed, her mind going back to her aunt who was cross examining the man whom she once considered her surrogate father. The man who apparently killed her mother.

"I don't want to be Emily's charity case, she's stopped her life to help me," Cassie said expressing her fears. Garcia shook her head quickly,

"Emily Prentiss does not do anything she doesn't want to do. And she loves you Cassie and wants to be there, even after we catch the killer."

The girl smiled at the kind words Garcia said about her aunt, and knew that there was truth behind it, the only problem was to get herself to believe it. Suddenly the door swung open and the woman of the hour was standing in front of them.

"Speak of the she-devil," Garcia smiled as the older Prentiss entered the room.

"I leave you with my niece for two hours and you set up a casino in her hospital room," Emily joked, taking note at the cards laying on the table.

"Oh little miss over here isn't so innocent, she cleaned me out of peanut M&Ms," Garcia playfully pouted.

"You had a good round a bit ago where you took all my skittles," Cassie pointed out.

"Enough with candies ladies. I actually have the rest of the team in hallway. They're going to Sherman Oakes in two hours to follow up on some of Montle's men who are willing to talk to us if we give them a deal," Emily said, now gaining the full attention of the former poker players.

"So you think Montle definitely did this to mom," Cassie asked, even though she already had the answer.

Emily nodded sadly, "yes, but we need more proof, and we need more information so we can press his buttons. That's why the team wants to speak with you, to get to know you and Lisa's life with Montle better."

Cassie crossed her arms across her chest and closed her eyes. The last thing she wanted to do was to speak about this bastard, how she actually trusted him, and the crumbling of her security.

"I already told you and Aaron about him," Cassie said, her voice growing childlike out of fear.

"I know Cassie and that was great, but we need more detail. I know that you don't want to talk to a room full of people about painful things, especially knowing that there was a time that you cared about him. But it will help us put him away. You've come so far Cassie, I have so much faith in your strength right now," Emily comforted her niece, looking her dead in the eye.

Cassie looked back into the brown eyes that looked so much like her mothers, it almost was too much to bare.

"Promise you won't leave me while I tell them," she said softly.

The older woman nodded, and squeezed her hand. "I'm going to sit right in the chair the entire time. Any time you need a breather, I'll kick them out," Emily assured her.

"I'm going to go to the cafeteria to get something to drink, would you like anything Cassie," Garcia asked, knowing that the room was about to get very full, and very tense.

"Um, a chocolate milk would be nice," Cassie asked.

"Coming up in a jiff, anything for you Em?"

Emily asked for a coffee,the only thing she had been able to keep down for most of the day.

"Can you tell the team they can come in when they're ready," Emily added while Garcia was walking out there door.

"Will do," Garcia said, walking out the room.

At the end of the hall Garcia laid eyes on the rest of the team, who were quietly discussing among themselves.

"Well look at this group of sexy people," Garcia quipped trying to lighten the move.

"Not much, you know hospitals are my favorite place to hang out now a days," JJ joked.

"How's Cassie doing today, is she up for talking," Hotch asked, clearly concerned about going into the room.

Garcia nodded, "she's awake and willing, but not looking forward to it. The girl's been through enough, and recounting all of this isn't making her feel better the night before major surgery."

"I didn't want to go in there Garcia but we're crammed for time, and she's the only person alive who can give us a better picture," Hotch defended himself.

"I'm not blaming you sir, just be careful you don't push her too hard," Garcia warned.

"And where are you off to baby girl," Morgan asked.

"Off to get some Chocolate Milk my chocolate teddy bear," the blonde grinned.

"Let's get this over with, the sooner we do this the better," Rossi said, starting to walk down the hall way.

Cassie bit her lip as she watched the agents enter her hospital room, some familiar, others brand new.

"Cassie, you know Aaron, JJ and Spence. You haven't met agent Dave Rossi and agent Derek Morgan, their not only great agents but great friends. They've also been working on your case," Emily broke the silence.

"Nice to meet you. Thank you for all of your help so far," Cassie said, trying to force a smile.

"No need to thank us Cassie, we should be thanking you for being so brave to help us," Rossi said in a fatherly tone that made Cassie instantly relax.

"I'm not brave, all I've been doing is sitting on a bed and talked," she muttered, feeling foolish.

"The past is a battle in itself, hell I can't even face certain parts of my past," Morgan admitted.

Cassie simply smiled, and returned her gaze to her fingers.

"Now Cassie we're going to California to speak to some witnesses about Montle, and other criminal acts he's participated in, but we need your help," Hotch began to explain. "We need to understand the connection between you, your mother and Montle. How intense it was, and how it unraveled," he said, his voice softer than usual.

Cassie looked up and stared at the faces looking up at her. She knew that they needed her past to help preserve her future.

"My mother met him when he came into the travel agency she worked at in 2008," Cassie began, letting her mind return to easier times, happier times.

For the next 45 minutes, Cassie told the love story between Montle and her mother. How she booked him a trip to Mexico, and he asked her out to a Mexican dinner to celebrate. The first year he realy seemed like a good man, celebrating holidays with the two Prentiss girls, taking them on vacation during the summer. He even paid for Cassie's prom dress, and bought Lisa a car when her run down Saturn bit the dust.

"For the first time mom was happy, happy in a way I could never make her," Cassie said at one point of the conversation.

Emily wore her poker voice the entire time, even though her stomach muscles were contracting. It was evident that Lisa had made being a mother her number one priority, and the thought that her sister had been so in love, then so betrayed physically hurt Emily.

The story continued on, going into details how Montle began to act like a different person. He would start becoming more hostile, and more overbearing over Lisa, questioning her every move. There would be more and more times where Lisa would come back from an evening at Montle's upset.

"She said there were always guys coming in and delivering messages, while his phone was going off," Casey shared, her eyes glazed over as if she was in a trance.

Although the details about the escalating fighting and the pain were painful, Cassie kept telling the story. She told them about when her mom finally broke things off with him, and how he would threatening them both if she didn't come back to him.

"Mom said she saw too much to ignore, that she couldn't be with someone who would do such things," Cassie said as if she was talking to herself.

Reid made sure he was taking notes during the entire conversation, keeping a timeline to see if certain crimes were inline with the timeframe of Lisa's threats. It was hard for all of the agents to hear Cassie's story, and even harder to watch their friend keep her composer as she learned about the horror her sister went through.

"Before she, you know, she told me that if anything happened to her that I had to go to Emily. I had heard her before yell at Montle saying that she had a sister in law enforcement who would ruin him if he, he hurt me," Cassie began to tear, wiping her eyes furiously.

"Do we have everything we need yet," Emily asked, just wanting the line of questioning to stop before she began crying.

"I think we have everything we need," Hotch said noting the tears welling up in Emily's eyes.

Just in the knick of time, the door swung open with Garcia on the other side.

"Sorry it took me so long, but I just ran into a hunk of a doctor who was pretty interesting," Garcia said out of breath.

Looking around at the stone face agents, and the teary eyes girl Garcia knew that they all had just been through the ringer of questioning.

"Thank you Penelope, I really appreciated it. It's my favorite drink," Casey said, snapping back to reality.

"Mine too, it's the best proportion of chocolate flavoring and milk out there," Reid quipped, wishing he had a bottle of his own.

"It was always in our fridge growing up," Cassie smiled.

"Me too," Reid said excitedly, causing the rest of them team to turn their heads towards him.

"You want to split it with me, I won't drink the whole thing," Cassie offered, reaching for the empty cup on her nightstand.

"Uh sure why not," Reid offered, walking over towards the bed.

Emily looked at her coworkers to see if they were as weirded out as she was.

"Why don't you and Cassie enjoy your cold beverage while we go over some of the trip plans in the hallway," Hotch said, motioning the rest of the team to follow.

Reid simply nodded and went back to telling Cassie about the history of the drink.

"Did anyone just see that in there, or am I just really sleep deprived," Emily asked once the team was out in the hallway.

The team began to smile at each other.

"I think baby Prentiss has a crush on baby genius," Garcia smiled, delighted at seeing Reid actually happy over a female.

"It is obvious that they have some sort of connection. Maybe it's because they're closer in age," JJ offered up, having a tough time wrapping her head around the situation.

"It has been a while since Cassie had been around people closer to her peer group, and same with Reid," Rossi added.

"Let's figure that out later, we have other things that need to be done before we try to make sense of that," Hotch said trying to refocus the conversation away from Spencer Reid's attraction to Prentiss junior.

"I've decided that half of the team will stay here, while the other half will go to Sherman Oakes. We can't have the entire team away because Montle may try something if he knows we're all out of base," he continued.

"Hotch I can hold the fort down here with Garcia," Emily said, upset that he didn't think she couldn't do her duty.

"Prentiss I have no doubt you will, but Garcia will be at the office and you'll be occupied with Cassie's surgery. JJ and Rossi will stay here with you, while Morgan Reid and I head out to California," he informed them.

"Hotch seriously I'll be okay," Emily huffed.

"This isn't up for debate Prentiss. It's logistics," he said, knowing that she was going to be fuming regardless.

"You guys better head back, wheels up in 60 minutes," JJ said checking her watch.

After exchanging goodbyes, the rest of the team minus JJ departed back to the office leaving the two agents and Cassie in the hospital room. After a while, Cassie fell asleep leaving just JJ and Emily left in the room.

"You were great today Em," JJ remarked to a tired looking Emily.

The brunette sighed and shook her head. "I didn't do anything but sat there and tried not to vomit," she said.

"You sitting there is what that girl needs. Someone that won't leave her side. You don't need to do anything," JJ assured.

"If I was in Lisa's life I would have been able to stop her from being hurt from this creep. I would of known she was a travel agent, that she liked Gilmore Girls and oh yea had a daughter," Emily said with a hint of bitterness in her voice.

The woman felt so much guilt over the entire situation, and knew that there was nothing to turn back the hands of time.

"Emily you can't dwell on what you didn't do, or what Lisa didn't do," JJ rested her hand on Emily's hand.

"When my sister killed herself, I replayed the situation of how I could of saved her. If I was home that night, or if I picked up on her depression." Emily squeezed her friend's hand, knowing that even decades later the void of her sister still haunted JJ.

"But I finally came to peace that it would of happened no matter what, and that she wouldn't want me dwelling on that last moment. I honor her by living as a good person, and helping other people. People who still stand a chance," JJ said through the lump in her throat.

"I want to be able to do that Jae, but it's hard," Emily admitted.

"Oh damn straight it's hard, but it will get easier. And you have something that is a representation of Lisa, her daughter. You have a chance to help your sister live on in her daughter, who needs help being put back together," JJ smiled.

Emily knew that JJ was right, and that being there for Cassie would be what Lisa would have wanted.

"I don't know how I'm going to help her after we catch Montle. I mean we put the bad guy in jail, but then what? She's still motherless, and filled with scars," Emily asked, admitting her deepest fears outloud of once.

"You'll, We'll, help her get her life back on track. She expressed to me that she missed college, and wants to go into law enforcement. There's no way she'll be able to do it without someone supporting her emotionally, being her cheerleader. You both have a long future in front of you, much longer than the 21 missed years," said JJ.

Rubbing her face with her hands, Emily took in everything JJ was saying.

"For the last few days I've felt like my heart was living outside my body," Emily said, finally feeling the effects of her nerves.

JJ smiled and nodded, "that's what it feels like to love someone your protective of, a maternal feeling almost."

Emily just shrugged, "maybe, or else I've had way to much coffee and not enough food."

"Valid point. Why don't I run out and get some dinner for the three of us. Cassie is probably going to be starving when she wakes up," JJ offered.

"That would be great, this cafeteria food blows," Emily remarked.

A few moments later, it was just the two Prentiss women alone in the room. It was the first silence that fell to Emily's ears all day, and it seemed louder than anything she'd ever heard.


	27. Chapter 27

Cassie could hear voices in her room, but didn't want to open her eyes. She had fallen asleep shortly after the team left, due to sheer exhaustion. One thing she had learned over the last few months that going into personal detail was as tiring as running a triathlon. Going over the past few years of her life was just a reminder at what she was missing now.

She felt foolish for ever believing that Montle could have been the father she never had, and how she really thought he cared. All the memories of her mother talking about a potential wedding, the holiday dinners where there was one more at the table all felt like salt into wounds. She thought that catching him would make her feel better, but if all possible it just made her feel worse. Rehashing everything to new people, and knowing that there was a chance.

After laying still, she smelled something delicious, something that wasn't hospital food. Rubbing her face, she opened her eyes to find the women of the BAU sitting in chairs around the table, eating sandwiches.

"Sleeping Beauty seems to be awake," Garcia teased.

"How long was I out of it, I just meant to rest my eyes" Cassie asked sleepily.

"About an hour or so, we didn't wake you did we," Emily asked. Cassie shook her head as she eyed the food wrappers on the table.

"Are you hungry? You missed the quality dinner this place serves, so I picked you up a sub," JJ offered, handing her the package.

The other women smiled as Cassie eagerly began to unwrap the food as if she hadn't eaten anything in days. "The food is that bad here, eh?" Garcia quipped.

"Please, today's lunch looked like it was swallowed, and then spit up again, sprinkled with oregano," Cassie said between bites.

"Great use of adjectives," Emily said, putting down her own dinner.

"And also this is your last meal till after surgery, you're doctor needs you to fast except for water," she added.

Cassie looked up and groaned, with all of the commotion this evening she forgot about the surgery.

"Awesome, they starve me and carve into me like a turkey," Cassie complained, using a tone that showed her tiredness of the situation.

"Just think this time tomorrow you won't have to sleep with your leg in the air," JJ pointed out the traction piece above Cassie's bed.

"That reminds of something that was in my ex's bedroom, I never realized it could be used for a different reason," Garcia remarked, causing the other women to burst out laughing.

"After this experience if I ever see it in a bedroom I'm running," Cassie laughed.

The young woman enjoyed the light conversation between the women, it was nice change up from the tense conversations and emotional moments that usually occupied the room. Once it hit 8:30, JJ and Garcia said their goodbyes to let Cassie and Emily get some rest.

"I'll swing by to check on you guys tomorrow morning before I head into the office," JJ said to Emily as she walked them out of the room. Emily didn't say anything but reached out and gave her best friend a hug.

"After this is over we'll get a stiff drink," the blonde assured the brunette.

Walking back into the room, Emily could tell that Cassie was exhausted, despite the cat nap she had earlier.

"You look like you have a date with the sandman," Emily joked as she began straightening up the room.

Cassie looked at her and crinkled her nose, "my mom used to say that all of the time when I was tired."

"It's something our nanny used to say when we were tired growing up," Emily shared, not surprised that Lisa used the line. Their nanny was a big part of their childhood, more than their mother.

"You guys had a nanny? Mom said that her mom wasn't around but I jus figured she was a working mom," Cassie said.

Emily laughed at the phrase working mom and her mother used in the same sentence. A working mom came home every night after a long day, and juggled professional responsibilities on top of a family. Ambassador Prentiss juggled her professional life with her social life, leaving her kids to fall by the wayside.

"Ambassador Prentiss wasn't a working mom. She was a government official who happened to have two daughters," Emily said curtly.

Cassie didn't have to be a profiler to realize that Emily didn't exactly get along with her mother.

"I had a hunch she wasn't like my friend's grandmothers," Cassie said, a little disappointed.

She had spent much of her childhood imagining what her other family members were like. Although most of it focused on her father, she would imagine a grandmother that would dote on her and bake cookies, along with the aunt and cousins attached to her fantasy. Growing up she always felt a bit of betrayal by her mother for not letting her know her maternal blood line. But the more Cassie learned about her mother's family, the more she realized that she had a good reason.

"Does she know about me," the girl asked.

Emily paused for a minute to think over the question and how to answer it. To her knowledge, the Ambassador had no idea where Lisa relocated, or that she had a daughter. It did cross Emily's mind that her mother did know of the granddaughter, but kept to herself all of these years.

"Not to my knowledge. We only speak through email most of the time, and meet up for dinner about twice a year," Emily finally answered.

"Are you going to tell her about me, and about mom," Cassie asked.

"Eventually, I'm not sure how to go about it. I'm warning you she's more of a headache than help," Emily warned. Emily felt bad at the disappointed look on Cassie's face, and tried to remedy the situation.

"Look when you're back on your feet and have the ability to run away if need be, then I'll introduce you. I just don't want you to deal with anything else," Emily offered. Cassie shifted in her bed, not knowing how to deal with the offer.

"I'm still strong as ever Emily, I don't need protected," she assured her aunt, trying to muster up some gruffness in her voice.

"It's not that I think you're weak Cassie. You just keep getting hit blow after blow. And somehow you are still standing," Emily told her.

"I don't feel like it. It should be me going to Sherman Oaks, and dealing with Montle. He killed my mother, he should be stopped by my hands," Cassie said, expressing her anger about the whole situation. Emily shook her head and sat on the edge of the bed. She had seen this many times in victims, the guilt of not serving the vengeance of a loved one.

"Cassie, look what happened to you when you tried it by yourself. You almost got yourself killed, which would of meant Montle got away from everything. What good would that have done," Emily said, being blatantly honest with her niece. Cassie just stared back at her aunt, not knowing how to respond to her truthful statement.

"We're trained agents who have far more tools and resources to catch him. If you weren't helping, we wouldn't know where to start. You could have been laying in this bed, refusing to talk, letting him get away," Emily continued, hoping she was saying the right things.

"Everything you're saying make sense Emily. It's logical and there is evidence that it rings true," Cassie agreed. "But it doesn't stop me from feeling horrible in here," she continued pointing to her chest.

"Killing him yourself wouldn't help that either Cassie, trust me. It won't bring back your mom," Emily explained, moving closer to her to put her hand on Cassie's arm.

"I really like your friends, they've been really nice to me even though they don't even know me," Cassie commented.

"Yea they're pretty great people," Emily smiled thinking about her coworkers, and all of the great things they've done.

"Are you staying here with me because you feel guilty about my mom," Cassie blurted out.

Emily's face looked shocked, not believing that Cassie would think just a thing.

"No, why would you ever think a thing like that," the older woman asked.

"You didn't even know I existed till the attack, and I don't want you dropping everything for me just because my mom was your sister," Cassie explained.

Emily reached her hand up to to Cassie's face gently, careful not to to press on the bruises.

"Even before I knew you who you were Cassie, I felt drawn to you. And I sat here and waited for you to wake up, hoping to be able to reunite you with your parents, siblings – a happy family," Emily shared, struggling to keep her voice steady.

"Yes you are my sister's daughter, but you're so much more than that, just getting to know in these few days I see that," she continued.

Hearing Emily dismiss her fears felt like a huge weight being lifter over Cassie's shoulder. Not even try to prevent it, Cassie buried her head in Emily's shoulder and cried.

"Why are you crying, I didn't mean to upset you," Emily asked a few moments of holding the girl, feeling terrible for making the girl burst into tears.

Cassie lifted her head up and wiped away the tears from her brown eyes. "It wasn't you, it was just this entire day. And I was so afraid you really didn't like me for me," Cassie admitted, sounding more like a child afraid about to loose a friend.

"Thank goodness we've cleared that up. Now let's get you ready for bed," Emily said, trying to move on from their yet again emotional encounter. Cassie was grateful to move on from the moment, and to get back to sleep. After the struggle of getting pajamas on, and teeth brushed with one hand, Cassie could barely keep her eyes open by the time Emily helped her back into bed.

"Do you want the television on while you drift off," Emily asked, fixing up her own cot.

Cassie groaned, "I'm so sick of television."

Noticing the cheesy romance novels in Garcia's gift basket, Emily had an idea.

"Why don't I read from one of your books. I'm sure the one titled 'One Night In Paradise" will be a keeper," the older woman asked picking up the book.

"Aren't I little too old to be getting a bedtime story," Cassie said in between a yawn.

"Just pretend it's an audio book, except I bet I'll have more inflection than most narrators's" Emily said, setting onto the bed next to Cassie.

Pushing aside her ego, Cassie agreed "anything is better than late night talk shows."

Emily began reading about the love triangle of a woman names Ariel and two men named Horris and Grady. During her narration Emily added her own personal side notes, making fun of the cheesy dialogue.

"Oh come on, who calls uses the word morsel when referring to their handyman love," Emily remarked after reading one particular exaggerating paragraph.

Cassie chuckled at the outraged in her aunt's voice, which she enjoyed more than the story. By the end of the second chapter, Emily was reading out loud to herself since Cassie was out cold. Looking up and realizing her audience was checked out, Emily put down the book and stretched.

It was only 11 pm but to her it felt like the never ending day. It wasn't though she was a stranger to jam-packed days, but this was a different level. Acting as an advocate for Cassie, doing her job and dealing with her own emotions made each hour feel like an eternity.

As she slid into her own pair of sweats, her thoughts wandered to the team on their way to California. She imagined being on the plane, going through the usual debriefing, strategizing a game plan. Knowing that the best place for her to be was here didn't help her not feel guilty for going out there with them. Then she reflected on her earlier conversation with Hotch, and felt a twinge of guilt for have spoken so sharply to him earlier. Emily knew he was making the right calls, but she hated the feeling of being protected.

Besides being the strong team leader as always, he had been such a great source of support for her. Just having him sitting with her in the hospital gave her a peace of mind, unlike anything else. Her feelings about him were confusing and complicated—it wasn't the time or place to deal with that. But although she thought that every time she pondered Aaron, it didn't her from playing the what-if game right before she went to bed each night.


	28. Chapter 28

Cassie woke up to find her nightly nurse hovering over her, checking her vitals no different than the last few nights.

"I didn't mean to wake you hon, you should get some rest before your surgery," the nurse said after noticing Cassie's open eyes.

"What time is it," the patient asked groggily, noticing that it was still dark outside her window.

"It's almost 6 am, pre-op will come in around 9 am," the nurse said, writing down numbers on her chart.

Now that she was awake, the anxiety of the upcoming surgery would prevent her from going back to sleep.

"Is there anything I can get for you or your mom," the nurse asked while gathering up her things.

Cassie looked confused, but then remembered the sleeping woman on the cot next to her. "We're okay for right now, I just want to get this over with," Cassie sighed.

The nurse offered a reassuring smile, "It will be over before you know it. You're lucky to have such a caring mom and family. Every time I come in here your mom or family members are here."

Knowing the nurse meant well, Cassie decided just to play along to the woman's ignorance. "Yes I am,"she simply said watching the nurse leave the room.

Pulling her covers up to her chin, Cassie looked around the room in observation. It was a contrast of the bare, plain looking room that she had woken up in several days ago. Now the room had more personal affects, clothes, food containers, stuffed animals, coffee cups. It actually looked like someone who had a life, an existence inhabited the room.

Taking the moment of being the only one awake in the room, Cassie shifted her gaze over the sleeping woman sprawled out on the cot beside her. Cassie had to admit it was nice to be in the same room as Emily without feeling the hot gaze of the agent upon her. It amazed Cassie how similar Emily looked like her mother, and even more similar their personalities were.

Both were highly organized, and seemed to be so without struggle. Lisa was the master of schedules, and calenders, a trait she was trying to instill in her daughter before her passing. Emily was constantly pulling out her Blackberry to go over her calender, and so far had kept tracked of all of Cassie's medical meetings. Another trait that Cassie noticed was both women seemed to always be on high alert.

Growing up, Cassie was constantly telling her mom to chill out. Lisa hammered all of the stranger danger lessons in her daughter's head, and wouldn't even let her go to the mall by herself till the ripe age of 14.

"Mom why do you think everyone is out to get us, you've been watching too many crime tv shows," Cassie once said to her mom.

Lisa would say that one day when Cassie was older she would understand, not really knowing how true her words would ring true. Cassie did find the bitter irony that the woman who was so safeguarded eventually met her demise by letting her guard down. The guard that Cassie had begged her to put down so many times.

Cassie figured that the reason for Emily's alertness was that there was a killer on the loose, and so many years in the BAU might have jaded her. But there had to be something linked to their past that made both an FBI agent and a real estate agent to act the same.

Looking at her leg, Cassie began to think of how much more comfortable she would be once this was all over. It would be nice to be able to get out of bed by herself and curl her legs up when she slept.

With Montle on the fast track of being put in jail, Cassie knew she was going to have to figure out what to do next with her life, or what was left of it. There was no way she would be able to go back to USC and try to be a regular student again. Besides, most of her friends would be graduating and starting their real lives. Although she only needed 30 more credits, it still seemed like a lot to accomplish while she worked a full time job.

Her mother had a small amount of life insurance, most of which was spent on her burial. Cassie laughed at the memory of looking at caskets with her best friend Maria, who yelled at the funeral director for charging thousands for a metal box.

By selling their house, Cassie had enough to fund her trip across country, living out of hotels while tracking down Emily. Funds were running low, and the longer she was in this hospital, the higher her bill would be at the end of this. Having only half of a college degree, and only odd job work experience, Cassie knew that she wasn't going to be a star candidate for employment in this economy.

Remembering Emily's offer to help her when she came out of the hospital made Cassie feel uneasy. Being an independent woman had always been a quality Cassie had prided herself on having. Her mother had always been her role model for that quality, teaching her never to rely on anyone to survive.

After the funeral, many neighbors and close friends offered Cassie to stay with them to get her act together. But Cassie knew they were all saying that to be nice, and once she was there it would be a countdown on where to move next.

Allowing Emily to help her figure out what to do next made her feel she was failing. Failing to provide for herself, and to get her herself out of this mess. But Emily was family, Cassie reminded herself, not just her next store neighbor who was being polite. This is a woman who has laid on a lumpy cot for several nights and has gone above and beyond the call of legal duty for her.

She began rubbing her temples, feeling a headache coming on due to all of rapid thoughts infiltrating her head. Not wanting to disturb Emily by turning on the television, she picked up the book Emily was reading from last night. Hoping the trashy novel would get her mind off of her worries, she began reading where Emily left off the previous night.

An hour later Cassie was well into the fifth chapter when Emily began to stir from her cot. Like every morning this week, the first minute of awareness was spent figuring out where she was. Due to the nature of her job, Emily was used to waking up in strange hotel rooms in uncomfortable beds. It wasn't till the distinct smell of disinfectant and the view of the glass door reminded her that she was in the hospital. Rustling to situate herself upright, she was surprised to see her roommate immersed in a book at 7:30 in the morning.

"Catching up on some early morning reading," Emily asked. Cassie looked startled as she looked up from the book.

"Well I figured that since I'll be knocked out most of the day that I should catch up on our story now," Cassie joked, now putting the book on the night table.

"Just think of how well you'll sleep, it will be like Nightquil on crack," Emily assured her, wishing that she could get a solid nights sleeping with the help of medicine.

"Yea that's one benefit of sliced and diced," Cassie said bitterly.

"It is a price to pay for a solid's night sleep around here," Emily joked as she began folding away the pull out coat.

"I've never been put under anesthesia before," Cassie admitted sounding scared.

"Yes you have, when you were first brought in they put you under to help the swelling in your brain go down," Emily told her, hoping it would ease her mind.

Cassie looked surprised, "Oh, I guess then I won't die of an allergic reaction like I saw on Grey's Anatomy."

Emily smiled, "nope, you seemed to be find with it except for being out of it a bit." Cassie wasn't sure whether to be comforted by this fact, or to be worried she would say something stupid while out.

"Hopefully when you wake up Hotch and the team will be closer gathering more evidence against Montle," Emily said, fiddling with her phone.

She knew the team was running on pacific time, and that they weren't even awake yet. The toughest thing today would be the waiting for Emily, waiting for a call from Hotch, waiting for Cassie to get back from surgery, and waiting to see what tricks Montle had up his sleeve.

Clutching two cups of coffee in her hands, JJ tiredly made her way down the hospital hallway. The events from the last few days had begin to catch up with her, which made getting out of bed this morning almost impossible. She was secretly jealous of people who could conveniently call in sick from their job anytime they needed to.

For anyone in the BAU, it was like a game of strategy even on a slow day. And with the team being in the middle of such a huge and personal case, there was no personal day anywhere in JJ's future. Of course the blonde wouldn't dare complain about her weariness to anyone, considering half the team flew to California in the middle of the night and her other co-worker hasn't slept in a proper bed in nights.

Approaching Cassie's door, JJ could hear usually loud voices coming from the room. Upon closer inspection, she realized it was Cassie's voice.

"I feel like I'm melting into the bed," the girl's voice called out.

"Cassie it's the pain medicine, you're not melting I assure you," Emily's voice followed.

JJ walked into the room to find Cassie gripping the side rails of her bed, with Emily sitting on the edge.

"Hey guys, is everything okay," JJ asked as she eyed up the situation. Emily's eyes were a clear indicator that everything was not okay, as was the panicked look on Cassie's face.

"The nurse came in to give Cassie some medicine before they give her sleeping medicine in a bit," Emily explained, gritting through her teeth.

"They gave me the wrong medicine JJ, you need to do something please," Cassie whimpered.

JJ looked from the older brunette to the younger brunette not knowing what to say.

"It happens sometimes Cassie, the medicine makes your body feel like silly puddy," JJ assured the scared girl. Visibly shaking, Cassie was not convinced by her visitor's assurance.

"She's been like this for the last half hour, the medicine was suppose to make her loopy, not trippy," Emily muttered.

"Why don't you get the doctor and I'll stay here with Cassie to make sure she doesn't absorb into her blankets," JJ offered, hoping the joke would help lighten the situation.

Emily patted Cassie's leg and dashed out the door.

"I shouldn't get surgery today JJ, can you take me home," Cassie asked sadly.

"You know I can't Cassie, trust me I wish I could. But in a few minutes Emily's going to get you some new medicine to help you sleep. This is a bad dream," JJ said calmly, taking Emily's spot on the bed.

"A bad dream, this is all a dream," Cassie repeated, her voice sounding as if she was miles away.

"Yep, you're going to wake up and not even remember I was here visiting you,' JJ smiled, silently wishing to Emily to hurry up.

"So I didn't really get hurt, my moms alive and I'm still in college," the girl asked in a tiny voice.

JJ's mouth opened in shock, not knowing what to say. All of her media training and work experience never set her up for this.

"You're not going to remember feeling this bad, now take my hand and squeeze it really tight. It will help your nerves," JJ said picking up the girl's hand into her own.

Cassie seemed appeased by her answer, and squeezed tightly.

JJ simply smiled, trying not to show her pain on her face.

"I need a doctor now, not in a half hour. I have a girl thinking she's made of jello," Emily's voice boomed from the hallway. Apparently the nurses don't understand that Emily Prentiss is not one to dismiss, JJ thought to herself.

"Emily's screaming, why is she screaming. Am I dying," Cassie quivered.

JJ shook her head, "she's just speaking loudly honey. She does that sometimes."

Normally JJ would be going after Emily making sure she wasn't threatening charges against the nurses but there was no way she could leave the delusional girl.

"Cassie you are not dying, this medicine is messing with your brain," JJ continued to try to calm Cassie down.

The older woman couldn't believe the horrible reaction Cassie was having to the pain medicine, and hoped it wouldn't effect her surgery.

"I don't want to be here anymore," Cassie whimpered, this time accompanied by tears.

JJ began rubbing the girl's shoulder, and looked around the room for something tot distract her.

"Who's this little guy," JJ asked Cassie, picking up the stuffed bear. Picking her head up, Cassie stopped crying for a moment to inform her the bear's title of Mr. Snuggles.

"He's very cute, did your mom get him for you," JJ asked, hoping it would get Cassie's mind off of the current situation.

Cassie nodded sadly, "Emily brought him from my room at the motel."

"That was nice of her, when did you get him," JJ asked her as if she was talking to a child.

Soon enough Cassie began telling JJ all about the bear, instead of focusing on her impending doom. After fifteen minutes, which felt like an eternity to JJ, Emily came storming into the room with a doctor.

"You see how upset this girl is? She's out of her mind because of these drugs," Emily rambled before she noticed the composed Cassie.

"Cassie was telling me about her friend Mr. Snuggle's while we were waiting for the doctor to come," JJ said in a sing song voice, glaring at Prentiss.

"I don't want the doctor, Emily tell him to get away," Cassie began to cry, forgetting about her story.

"Clearly something is wrong with her medication, let's try this," the doctor said, going over to the IV stand to insert a new medicine.

"You're just realizing this now," Emily said sarcastically, as JJ tried to keep a flailing Cassie skill.

"Emily stop him," Cassie squeaked while in JJ's embrace.

"Cassie in a few seconds you're going to be asleep, and this will be over I swear to God you won't remember it," Emily promised as she watched the new medicine begin to enter the IV.

"Don't let them hurt me," Cassie mumbled repeatedly till she finally passed out on the bed.

The three remaining adults stared at the girl to make sure there wouldn't be a second act.

"What the hell was that," JJ asked the doctor.

"Apparently Miedsas, which is an anxiety/pain reliever medicine had an adverse reaction on Cassie. It did the opposite, making her paranoid and delusional. Since we never used this on her before, we had no way of knowing. I'm sorry about the mistake Ms. Prentiss, it won't happen to your daughter again," he said before walking out.

Emily began to open her mouth, but JJ put her hand on her shoulder signaling her to save her breath.

"Just let him go Em, he was just an on call doctor. He won't be dealing with Cassie's surgery," JJ now assured the older Prentiss. Emily folded her arms to her chest and looked out the door.

"No one would listen Jae, I told them that it was wrong but they thought I was an over reacting family member," Emily huffed.

"Emily they were doing their job, remember all of the victim's family members we've dealt with. It wasn't their fault Cassie had a horrible reaction," JJ explained.

"She was just so out there, as if a switch went off in her brain. I hope she doesn't remember any of that when she comes to after surgery," Emily said.

"She won't, not with all of the meds pumped into her. I shouldn't be giving you more caffeine to rev you up, but I'm guessing it's the only food you'll have today," JJ handed Emily the now luke warm cup of coffee.

Gracious for her fix, Emily grabbed the cup and took a long sip. "It sucks being on the other side. I'm so used to being the one fixing the problems, and now I have to wait for them to be fixed," Emily admitted as her shoulders began to untense.

"Em, don't forget the fact your not only being a family member but also a BAU agent. In that sense you are able to control something, but the medical stuff is best left to the doctors. The very good looking doctors," JJ laughed.

Emily nodded, knowing that JJ had a good point. "You should get to base, Hotch and the team will be at the prison soon. It's going to be a busy day for you guys," Emily said.

JJ sighed, "every day is a busy day at the good ole BAU. Are you going to be alright here?"

Emily nodded her head and gave her best reassuring smile. "I'm fine knowing Cassie is out like a light. Once she's wheeled into the OR I'm going to run home, shower and feed Sergio."

"I'll call you when I hear anything, and will be over later. If you so much need anything, you better call me Prentiss or I will kick your ass," JJ said, only half joking.

Emily grinned, "If Morgan missed that he would never forgive us."

Within the next half hour, Emily watched the orderly roll transfer a sleeping Cassie from her bed to a gurney.

"Wait a minute," Emily stood up as the orderly was half way out the door. As if she was handling a porcelain doll, the agent smoothed Cassie's blanket, and pushed her hair away from her face. Taking one last look, Emily kissed her niece's far head, "you can do this kiddo." After pulling away and giving the orderly a stiff nod, Emily was left in the hospital alone and exhausted.


End file.
